Jack Dorsey says India threatened Twitter: How Twitter was appearing towards the Indian legal guidelines, the sort of accounts that have been blocked and the battle it picked

On June 12 (native time), founder and former CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey claimed in an unique interview on Breaking Point that the Indian authorities threatened to close down Twitter if it didn’t take motion towards “particular journalists” and accounts “critical of the government” in the course of the farmer’s protest. His assertion got here with out a lot context of what the Government of India (GoI) stated and why it was stated.

While Jack Dorsey claimed that they have been threatened with raids and a shutdown, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar issued a clarification citing how Twitter beneath Jack Dorsey was blatantly violating Indian legal guidelines and had disregard for the sovereignty of India. He additional stated that Jack Dorsey was blatantly partisan and de-platforming and de-amplifying voices it didn’t agree with politically. The full report on what the Union Minister stated countering the ‘blatant lies’ by Jack Dorsey will be learn right here.

Jack Dorsey claimed India threatened to close down Twitter, raid houses of workers

In the interview with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Jack talked concerning the takedown requests by India and different nations and the way it impacted Twitter’s campaign on “Free Speech” throughout his time on the firm. Speaking on how Elon Musk has taken the precept of following the regulation of the land on what ought to be allowed on the platform, he stated, “Countries like India and Turkey made many requests to us back in the day to take down particular journalist accounts or give contact information and to remove them from the platform.”

He identified that as now Musk has taken the trail of selecting totally different traces of income, it will assist the platform to turn out to be extra open to free speech, however on the identical time, stress from the United States, the Department of Defence, China, Turkey or India can turn out to be a “single point of failure”. Dorsey vouched for decentralised social media platforms like Noster and decentralised foreign money like Bitcoin as the best way to maneuver forward.

Moving additional within the interview, Jack particularly focused India and claimed that requests have been constituted of the GoI to take down accounts of “particular journalists” who have been “critical of the government”. He stated, “India is a country that had many requests of us around the farmer’s protest around particular journalists that were critical of the government. 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. ‘We will shut down your offices if you don’t follow suit’, and this is India, a democratic country.”

He added that nations like Turkey and Nigeria have been related. Jack stated in Nigeria, they might not put workers on the bottom out of worry of what authorities would do to its workers and added, “Then, of course the, the US.”

Speaking on Twitter Files, Jack accused journalists of exposing Twitter’s actions of placing issues “out of context”. He even claimed to don’t know about many of the issues uncovered within the Twitter Files as he was not “that involved” within the course of.

Interestingly, whereas speaking about freedom of speech and expression, he blames the very journalists who have been exposing the nefarious actions that have been afoot at Twitter itself. To defend himself of any culpability, he additional says that he was not ‘that’ concerned primarily making an attempt to color himself as somebody who was making an attempt to uphold freedom of speech, with out being “that involved” and any type of censorship and biased behaviour that was thereafter uncovered by journalists was ‘biased’ in itself.

Twitter’s conduct throughout farmers’ Protests

During farmers’ protests, a number of incidents occurred that required speedy intervention of the businesses to curb the disinformation spreading on social media, together with Twitter. On January 26, a tractor march in direction of Delhi turned violent, and safety businesses have been on their toes to manage the violence and, on the identical time, curb the disinformation. In the aftermath of the violence, a number of alleged journalists, propagandists and left-liberals began spreading disinformation, blaming the federal government of India and safety businesses for attacking and even killing the protesters.

The authorities of India put out notices to dam and take down such accounts to cease the disinformation. However, Twitter determined to not adjust to the direct orders from the federal government and let the disinformation float freely on its platform. On the opposite, the motion towards the federal government accounts and nationalists accounts was hostile, to say at the very least.

For instance, in the course of the scuffle between the federal government and Twitter, in June 2021, Twitter determined to lock then-Union Minister of Information and Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad’s account. It remained locked for over an hour.

The Minister stated that Twitter had denied entry to his account for nearly an hour on the alleged floor that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA. The purpose given by Twitter for the motion was a violation of DMCA, which was odd for the time.

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the corporate has unsuspended a whole lot if not hundreds of accounts from India and different nations that have been banned from the platform for no concrete purpose. Among these accounts, many have been nationalists and pro-Modi authorities, together with that of former OpIndia’s Ajeet Bharti, whose a number of accounts have been suspended earlier than Musk. Comparing what Bharti stated on Twitter and what left-liberals and Islamists say on Twitter, the actions taken by Twitter towards the likes of Bharti have been clearly biased.

Kind of accounts that have been blocked

At that point, lots of disinformation was being unfold on social media. One such declare that would have prompted a severe regulation and order scenario within the nation was of PM “Modi planning farmer genocide“. The hashtag trended on January 30, 2021, after which the safety businesses requested Twitter to dam it. Hundreds of accounts concerned in trending the hashtag have been beneath safety businesses’ radar, and Twitter was strictly requested to ban any such hashtag from trending. Around 1,100 pro-Khalistani accounts have been blocked by the Govt.

Another piece of disinformation was unfold by the likes of The Wire and Rajdeep Sardesai, who claimed a farmer was shot lifeless in the course of the tractor rally. The Delhi Police and the federal government categorically debunked it, however the lie survived, all because of Twitter.

Twitter, at the moment, determined to not adjust to the federal government’s orders and let the propaganda run free throughout the platform. It went right into a authorized battle with the federal government to save lots of those that sided with its ideology.

Anti-India propaganda of Twitter and Jack

Not to overlook, Jack brazenly supported journalists throughout his go to to India that have been propagating towards India. {A photograph} of him holding a placard that learn Brahminical patriarchy was made to social media, and he by no means stated something towards it regardless of the outrage.

Furthermore, huge PR and funds for well-known worldwide influencers have been in play throughout farmers’ protests. Twitter customers with tens of millions of followers, together with Rihanna, Lily Singh, Greta Thunberg and politicians like Ilhan Omar, Jagmeet Singh and others, have been let run propaganda posts towards the Indian authorities with out an iota of accountability to make sure the soundness of a rustic like India.

Not solely throughout farmer protests and earlier than but additionally in 2022, Twitter allowed propaganda towards former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma to run on the behest of Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair which led to a number of murders and regulation & order issues within the nation. From Greta Thunberg Toolkit to campaigns in favour of Pfizer, Twitter performed an important function in conspiracies towards India.

How Twitter primarily went towards the legal guidelines

India has a sturdy IT regulation in place to curb disinformation and make the platforms accountable for his or her actions. As per the regulation, Twitter and different social media platforms need to adjust to the orders by the Government in the event that they wish to maintain on to their standing as a mediator. On the opposite hand, regardless of repeated notices from the Government of India, Twitter determined to not adjust to the legal guidelines and let the propaganda run.

Their actions have been the rationale why Government needed to put down its ft and inform the corporate bluntly it will take strict motion if Twitter didn’t comply. The raid on Twitter’s workplace was in keeping with the non-compliance of presidency orders. Twitter didn’t take such irresponsible steps in nations just like the US and largely complied with the legal guidelines.

Debunking Jack’s claims, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to Twitter to slam the previous CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, for his tirade towards India, the place he claimed that the Indian govt pressurised him to withhold a number of accounts of journalists “critical of the govt” in the course of the farmers’ protest. His full assertion will be learn right here.

This is an outright lie by @jack – maybe an try and brush out that very doubtful interval of twitters historical past

Facts and reality@twitter undr Dorsey n his workforce have been in repeated n steady violations of India regulation. As a matter of reality they have been in non-compliance with regulation… https://t.co/SlzmTcS3Fa

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 13, 2023
What Elon Musk stated in his submission about Twitter breaking India’s legal guidelines

In his submitting that Twitter has now responded to, Elon Musk stated that Twitter had initiated dangerous litigation towards the Indian authorities, thereby inserting its third largest market in danger.

In para 18, Elon Musk says, “These obfuscations and misrepresentations are not Twitter’s only sins. Since the Merger Agreement was signed, Twitter has also made significant changes to its business without obtaining the consent required by the Merger Agreement. Twitter has terminated its product lead and another key executive, retained a board member whose reelection was rejected by stockholders, instituted a hiring freeze, and disobeyed orders from and initiated risky litigation against the Indian government—thereby placing Twitter’s third largest market at risk”.

Further, in para 181, Elon Musk asserted that Twitter didn’t disclose the litigation towards and the investigation into Twitter by the Indian authorities, saying, “In 2021, India’s information technology ministry imposed certain rules allowing the government to probe social media posts, demand identifying information, and prosecute companies that refused to comply. While Musk is a proponent of free speech, he believes that moderation on Twitter should “hew close to the laws of countries in which Twitter operates.”

In para 182, Elon Musk says that Twitter has confronted numerous investigations by the Indian authorities. Elon Musk asserts that the investigation by India might disrupt providers within the Indian market, an assertion that Twitter rejected.

In para 184 and 185, Elon Musk goes additional and claims that Twitter didn’t disclose the investigation by the Indian authorities to him, as per the necessities of the acquisition settlement. Musk additional stated that Twitter filed a case towards India on or round July 6 2022, which might imply that Twitter was beneath investigation when the merger settlement was signed, and due to this fact, it didn’t disclose the required data to Musk at the moment.

In para 190, Elon Musk factors out that its combative stance with the Indian authorities was a “departure from the ordinary course” because it had adopted obligations from Russia, together with blocking pro-Ukraine accounts. It is pertinent to notice right here that Russia is forward of India in takedown requests, in accordance with Twitter’s personal transparency report.

An in depth evaluation of Musk’s submission in courtroom will be learn right here.