Francesca Marino, an Italian journalist, was informed by Twitter of some of her tweets violating Pakistani law. Twitter claimed to have received official correspondence over her account.
Posting the screenshots of the email she had received, Marino replied that she lives in Italy where ‘freedom of speech’ still exists and accused the social media giant of being manipulated by regimes.
Dear @twitter and dear @jack just to inform you: I’m italian, I live in Italy and in my country there’s still freedom of speech. Frankly, I don’t see why I should be concerned of Pakistan law. What I see instead is the way you are manipulated by regimes. My compliments! pic.twitter.com/OKsgtq2v6R
— FrancescaMarino (@francescam63) June 28, 2019
In the email, Twitter said, “Twitter has not taken any action on the reported content at this time. We are only writing to inform you that the content posted to your account has been mentioned in a complaint.”
In the tweet which allegedly violates Pakistani Law, Marino accused the Pakistani establishment of nurturing and supporting terrorist groups and also blamed them for committing human rights violations in Balochistan.
These are the tweets that, according to @twitter and @jack are violating Pakistan law. pic.twitter.com/5p3FPLVE3k
— FrancescaMarino (@francescam63) June 28, 2019
Marino confirmed that she will consider suing Twitter.
I will. I don’t see why I should care for the uncivilized laws of any uncivilized country of this world. @twitter @jack https://t.co/0cWC035oCo
— FrancescaMarino (@francescam63) June 28, 2019
Twitter has sent such emails to users in the past as well. Imam Tawhidi, a progressive Muslim scholar from Australia, had received an email on 3rd December last year informing him that a particular tweet of his has broken Pakistani law.
Similarly, Ensaf Haider, a Canadian human rights activist and wife of Raif Badawi, a Saudi writer and dissident who has been imprisoned for his satirical blogs against Saudi regimes, too received similar notice of having violated Pakistani law.
Twitter, however, states that they inform their users of legal notices so that they can have a better opportunity to deal with it effectively. It says, “We have notified you so that you can avail yourself of the rights available for your particular situation in your specific jurisdiction. We want you to have an opportunity to evaluate the request and, if necessary, take appropriate action to protect your interests.”
