India Threatens to Jail Employees of Facebook, Twitter Amid Farmers Protests – Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Indian authorities have threatened to jail employees of Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp in response to their reluctance to provide the government with data as well as to delete information related to the ongoing protests of farmers, media reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), some of the written warnings sent by the Indian authorities to the tech giants contained information about specific India-based employees of the companies that may face arrest.

A WhatsApp spokesman told WSJ that the company satisfies those data requests which are “consistent with internationally recognized standards including human rights, due process and the rule of law.” A Facebook spokesman made a similar statement while a representative of Twitter said that the company would further "advocate for the fundamental principles of the Open Internet.”

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has not commented on the issue yet.

Indian farmers have been protesting for over three months now against three new laws that cancel the government-assured minimal purchase price, among other changes that farmers fear will leave them vulnerable before potential abuse by private businesses.