On Monday night (IST), former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claimed that the Government of India asked Twitter to shut down many Twitter accounts during farmers' protests. He claimed that the Modi government threatened to raid the residences of Twitter's India employees if handles critical of the government were not shut down.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics & Technology, today described Dorsey's comments as an outright lie. He suggested that the governemnt had to ask Twitter to shut down problematic accounts that were spreading the lie that a genocide was underway in India. Left with no option but to curtain propaganda, the government asked Twitter to deplatform those handles.
"During the protests in January 2021, there was a lot of misinformation and even reports of genocide which were definitely fake. The Government of India was obligated to remove misinformation from the platform because it had the potential to further inflame the situation based on fake news. To set the record straight, no one was raided or sent to jail. Our focus was only on ensuring the compliance of Indian laws," the Minister wrote.
Twitter is an MNC with a history of hypocrisy. Netizens are reminding Dorsey that his company suspended a number of far-Left and Marxist handles in the US when disturbances broke out during Trump's regime. Twitter, under Dorsey, wouldn't have bothered to comply with Indian laws unless forced to. The Modi government did try to put pressure on the company when needed.
https://twitter.com/Rajeev_GoI/status/1668455627319033857
