The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered the social media platform, X (formerly called Twitter) to take down some of the politically influenced posts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that are going to take place from April 19.
In compliance with ECI orders, X has withheld some posts in India containing political speech from elected politicians, political parties, and candidates for office on Tuesday.
However, Elon Musk-owned X has disagreed with these actions and has called on the Election Commission to publish all of its takedown orders going forward.
“The Election Commission of India has issued takedown orders requiring X to act on posts containing political speech shared from elected politicians, political parties and candidates for office. In compliance with the orders, we have withheld these posts for the remainder of the election period; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts and political speech in general,” X stated.
In a strongly worded statement, X said, “We have notified the affected users and in the interest of transparency, we are publishing the takedown orders here. We call on the Election Commission to publish all of its takedown orders going forward.”
As per the model code of conduct during elections, these posts have violated the provision of clause (2) of Part 1 “General Conduct” of MCC, the election commission said in its order.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024
Elections in India are slated to unfold in seven phases, beginning on April 19 and will continue till June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4 with the results being announced subsequently.
According to Reuters, a staggering 968 million registered voters, comprising 497 million men and 471 million women, will cast their votes in this electoral exercise.