As India mounts pressure on Twitter over the COVID pandemic, concerns are growing that social media platforms are becoming more powerful than governments.

Andrew Selepak, a social media professor at the University of Florida, says companies like Twitter are playing from their own rule book.

“They are applying their own rules [and] regulations to free speech regardless of local laws and regulations,” he told Ticker News Live.

India is removing critical posts about COVID from Twitter

India has asked Twitter to remove hundreds of tweets critical of its handling of the COVID pandemic.

Around half of all new daily global COVID-19 cases came from India. The nation’s hospitals have run out of oxygen and hospitals are above capacity.

“The Indian Government has been very unhappy with certain accounts being able to spread misinformation or just say anything negative about the Government,” he added.

Twitter is pushing back

Meanwhile, it’s not the first time Twitter and India have clashed. The country also ordered the removal of over 1,000 accounts in February. New Delhi claimed the tweets spread misinformation amid protests over new agriculture reforms.

Twitter first refused to comply. The tech giant later buckled to pressure from the IT ministry by blocking access to the bulk of accounts.

“[Twitter] believes there is a right for people to engage in free speech. It is one of these things where you’ve got international companies that are more powerful than any one Government,” he said.

Misinformation is a growing issue

It comes on the back of growing concern over fake news. Professor Selepak says reliance on social media platforms for information is becoming an issue.

“It’s how people are getting their news these days. It’s how individuals are deciding social issues to political issues,” he said.

However, Selepak says the problem is that there is little oversight when it comes to the facts.

“Where that becomes a sticky situation is the fact that the information isn’t from reputable news sources. It’s the most significant place for people to learn about their politicians [and] issues,” he said.