US urges India to respect freedom of expression

The United States on Thursday urged India to respect freedom of expression after the government threatened to take action against Twitter over content alleged to have inflamed ethnic tensions. "As the Indian government seeks to preserve security, we are urging them also to take into account the importance of freedom of expression in the online world," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Nuland stopped short of directly criticising potential action against Twitter, saying that the microblogging site and other US firms such as Facebook and Google were in talks with Indian authorities. "The unique characteristics of the online environment (need) to be respected even as they work through whether there are things these companies can do to help calm the environment," she said. Nuland said the United States was "in constant contact" with the Internet companies and was "ready to be helpful if we can."