Poll Body Orders X To Take Down Select Posts Of YSR Congress, AAP, Others

The Election Commission has ordered social media platform X to take down select posts of YSR Congress, AAP, N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary for violation of model code of conduct, the micro-blogging site said today.

The orders were issued on April 2 and April 3 and a follow-up email was sent by the poll panel on April 10 in which it cited a violation of the "voluntary code of ethics" if 'X' fails to remove the four posts reported to it.

'X' said the Election Commission of India has issued take down orders requiring the micro-blogging site to act on posts containing political speech shared from elected politicians, political parties and candidates for office.

The poll panel found that the objectionable posts were in violation of the model code of conduct that bars criticising political parties based on any aspects of the private life of leaders or workers of other parties that are not connected with public activities or based on unverified allegations or distorted facts.

"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," the micro-blogging site said.

"We have notified the affected users and in the interest of transparency, we are publishing the take down orders here. We call on the Election Commission to publish all of its take down orders going forward," it said.
 

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