Twitter has locked the account of India’s largest Opposition party. What does that mean?

A few months after the Indian government appeared to have gone to war with Twitter, the American social media platform is in the news again for its impact on Indian politics. Except this time, the accusations are flying from another part of the political spectrum.

Over the last few days, Twitter has locked at least 30 accounts connected to the Congress, India’s principal Opposition party. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has called this an “attack on democracy.”

The difference between the two situations is important, as is the context.

BJP vs Twitter

In May, as the sheer scale of its Covid-19 mismanagement became clear, the Bharatiya Janata Party decided to take issue with a label that Twitter slapped on its propaganda, describing the material as “manipulated media”.

Incensed that it was not free to propagate what fact-checkers had concluded were untruths, the BJP and the Indian government decided to take on Twitter from multiple angles, including having the police turn up at the company’s office. This was months after the government had threatened to jail Twitter employees, at that time because the company was refusing to block criticism of the handling of India’s massive farmer protests.

On multiple fronts, these moves were part of the BJP’s broader efforts to make…

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