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India threatened to shut Twitter down, co-founder Jack Dorsey says India threatened to shut Twitter down, co-founder Jack Dorsey says
(about 8 hours later)
Narendra Modi’s government calls accusation by social media firm’s former CEO an ‘outright lie’Narendra Modi’s government calls accusation by social media firm’s former CEO an ‘outright lie’
India threatened to shut Twitter down unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the government’s handling of farmer protests, the social media platform’s co-founder Jack Dorsey has said, an accusation Narendra Modi’s government called an “outright lie“. India threatened to shut Twitter down unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the government’s handling of farmer protests, the social media platform’s co-founder Jack Dorsey has said, an accusation Narendra Modi’s government denied.
Dorsey, who quit as Twitter’s chief executive in 2021, said on Monday that India had also threatened the company with raids on employees if it did not comply with government requests to take down certain posts.Dorsey, who quit as Twitter’s chief executive in 2021, said on Monday that India had also threatened the company with raids on employees if it did not comply with government requests to take down certain posts.
“It manifested in ways such as: ‘We will shut Twitter down in India’, which is a very large market for us; ‘We will raid the homes of your employees’, which they did; and this is India, a democratic country,” Dorsey said in an interview with the YouTube news show Breaking Points.“It manifested in ways such as: ‘We will shut Twitter down in India’, which is a very large market for us; ‘We will raid the homes of your employees’, which they did; and this is India, a democratic country,” Dorsey said in an interview with the YouTube news show Breaking Points.
India’s deputy minister for information technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, responded by calling Dorsey’s assertions an “outright lie”.India’s deputy minister for information technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, responded by calling Dorsey’s assertions an “outright lie”.
“No one went to jail nor was Twitter ‘shut down’. Dorsey’s Twitter regime had a problem accepting the sovereignty of Indian law,” he said in a post on Twitter.“No one went to jail nor was Twitter ‘shut down’. Dorsey’s Twitter regime had a problem accepting the sovereignty of Indian law,” he said in a post on Twitter.
Dorsey’s comments again put the spotlight on the struggles faced by foreign technology giants operating under Modi’s rule. His government has often criticised Google, Facebook and Twitter for not doing enough to tackle fake or “anti-India” content on their platforms, or for not complying with rules. Dorsey’s comments again put the spotlight on the struggles faced by foreign technology giants operating under Modi’s government, and the shrinking space to protect freedom of speech while also complying with India’s increasingly draconian social media laws.
The former Twitter chief executive’s comments drew widespread attention as it is unusual for global companies operating in India to publicly criticise the government. Last year, the Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi said in a court filing that India’s financial crime agency had threatened its executives with “physical violence” and coercion, an allegation the agency denied. Modi and his ministers are prolific users of Twitter, but free speech activists say his administration resorts to excessive censorship of any criticism. According to analysis of the company’s transparency reports, legal demands made by the Modi government to remove content from Twitter increased by 48,000% between 2014 and 2020.
Dorsey also mentioned similar pressure from governments in Turkey and Nigeria, which had restricted the platform in their nations at different points over the years before lifting those bans. India maintains that its content removal orders are aimed at protecting users and the sovereignty of the state. But in the Breaking Points interview, Dorsey said many of the accounts that had received takedown requests were “particular journalists that were critical of the government”.
Twitter was bought by Elon Musk in a $44bn (£35bn) deal last year. The former chief executive’s allegations shed further light on the pressures placed on Twitter in 2021 as the Modi government sought to control the narrative around the farmers protests, when hundreds of thousands of farmers set up camps around Delhi demanding the repeal of new agricultural law. The protests were a source of embarrassment to the government, which has allowed little space for dissent.
Chandrasekhar said Twitter under Dorsey and his team had repeatedly violated Indian law. He didn’t name Musk, but said Twitter had been in compliance since June 2022. There was outrage after hundreds of Twitter accounts that had mentioned the protests, including those of prominent journalists and news websites, were suspended at the request of the Modi government.
Modi and his ministers are prolific users of Twitter, but free speech activists say his administration resorts to excessive censorship of content it thinks is critical of its working. India maintains that its content removal orders are aimed at protecting users and sovereignty of the state. However, this later grew into a row after Twitter restored most of the accounts, citing “insufficient justification” and refused to take down a further 1,100 accounts allegedly spreading “misinformation”, at the government’s request.
In 2021 Modi’s government sought an “emergency blocking” of the “provocative” Twitter hashtag “#ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide” and dozens of accounts. Farmers’ groups had been protesting against new agriculture laws at the time, one of the biggest challenges faced by the Modi government. In response, the Indian government threatened Twitter employees in India with fines and up to seven years’ jail time if the company did not comply with their demands. The police also visited the Twitter offices as part of another inquiry, prompting Twitter to express concerns about the safety of their staff.
The government later gave in to the farmers’ demands. The altercations between Twitter and the Indian government appear to have lessened since the platform was bought by Elon Musk in a $44bn (£35bn) deal last year. India is Twitter’s third largest market after the US and Japan but since Musk took over, he slashed the Indian workforce by a reported 90%.
Twitter initially complied with the government requests but later restored most of the accounts, citing “insufficient justification”, leading to officials threatening legal consequences. Despite Musk’s proclamation to be a “free speech absolutist”, Twitter appears to have willingly complied with the Indian government’s requests and pushed back less than under Dorsey. This was also stated by Chandrasekhar who didn’t name Musk, but said Twitter had been in compliance since June 2022.
In subsequent weeks, police visited a Twitter office as part of another inquiry linked to tagging of some ruling party posts as manipulated. Twitter at the time said it was worried about staff safety. This included the removal of about 50 accounts in January which had tweeted links to a controversial BBC documentary which examined Modi’s role in the Gujarat riots. In order to stop it being seen, the government had banned any clips of its being shared on social media.
Dorsey in his interview said many India content takedown requests during the farmer protests were “around particular journalists that were critical of the government”. In April, complying to government demands, Twitter then blocked over 120 accounts of politicians, poets and even the BBC Punjab bureau who had tweeted about a fugitive Punjab separatist leader who was on the run.
Since Modi took office in 2014, India has slid from 140th in the World Press Freedom Index to 161st this year, out of 180 countries, its lowest ranking ever. In an interview with the BBC in April, Musk had stated that Twitter would comply with India’s strict social media laws. “If we have a choice of either our people go to prison, or we comply with the laws, we’ll comply with the laws,” said Musk.
Since Modi took office in 2014, India has slid from 140th in the World Press Freedom Index to 161 out of 180 countries, its lowest ranking ever.