India's IT Minister Soothes Public Fears Over Twitter Ban Amid Digital Rules Row

Earlier this week, Twitter lost its legal protection status in India, where it has over 17.5 million users, due to non-compliance with new IT rules. The development sparked worries that the platform could be banned from the country altogether.

Indian Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said the government is not considering banning any social networking platform.

"Norms are norms which the social media platforms need to follow. We are not into the banning of any social media platforms," Prasad told the Indian news agency ANI.

The minister also tweeted a clip from his interview.

All the political leaders, Govt departments, the Prime Minister of India, the President of India all are on Twitter, this shows how fair we are. Norms are norms which the social media platforms need to follow. We are not into the banning of any social media platforms. pic.twitter.com/HnLff9gkFT

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) June 24, 2021

Prasad's statement comes as Twitter's future in India remains uncertain – India blocked over 250 Chinese apps last year, citing national security reasons. 

Twitter failed to comply with India's IT laws – even after the country extended the 25 May deadline to give the company more time to adjust – and lost its legal protection status as a result. 

The platform was then hit with its first legal case in India – in Uttar Pradesh state's Ghaziabad city, Twitter was named in a police complaint for spreading communal unrest in the region. It's now facing a probe for allowing a video showing an elderly Muslim man being beaten to go viral and not acting on user complaints.