Amid farmers’ protests, over a dozen social media accounts withheld in India

More than a dozen accounts on social media sites X and Facebook that had been posting content about the ongoing farmers’ protest have been withheld in India this week in response to government demands.

The farmers are protesting to press their demand of a law guaranteeing a minimum support price for agricultural commodities and the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission Report’s wider recommendations on farming in India. A minimum support price is the rate at which the government buys farm produce.

Against the backdrop of the protests, the X accounts and Facebook pages of farmer leaders, including Sarvan Singh Pandher, Tejveer Singh Ambala, Ramandeep Singh Mann, Surjit Singh Phull and Harpal Sangha, have been withheld in India, The Wire reported.

The X accounts of journalists Sandeep Singh and Mandeep Punia, who were reporting on the farmers’ protest, were withheld on Wednesday afternoon. Additionally, the handle ‘Gaon Savera’, run by Punia, and his YouTube channel were also taken down.

Several other pages that have supported the protests have also been blocked in India, including @Tractor2twitr_P, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh). The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) is among the organisations leading the protest in Haryana’s Ambala district.

Mann told The Wire that he received a message that his X account was withheld on the night...

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