NEW DELHI— Twitter Inc. said it is reimplementing restrictions on some accounts in India after the government threatened legal action when the company refused to block hundreds of handles that New Delhi called inflammatory.
Twitter blocked the Twitter handles last week at the government’s request but then reversed its decision. After conducting an investigation, the company said the accounts should be allowed.
The Indian government threatened legal action which could have resulted in a fine or imprisonment for Twitter executives in charge of implementing government directives.
On Wednesday, Twitter said it would block most of the accounts again. It said on its blog that the handles will only be blocked within India and won’t include the accounts of journalists, media entities, activists and politicians.
“To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law,” the blog post said.
