Indian govt tears into former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over threat allegations

New Delhi: Months after the famous ‘Twitter files expose’ of the left-leaning policy of Twitter under former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the Indian government Tuesday lambasted Dorsey for lying over allegations of threat to the social media platform during the left-lobby-supported farmers' protest.

It may be recalled that Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk exposed how the platform under Dorsey was promoting leftist propaganda.

India’s infamous farmers' protest was hugely supported by the left lobby.

Dorsey alleged in an interview that the micro-blogging site received “many requests” from the Indian government during the farmers’ protests, especially around “particular journalists that were critical of the government.”

The interview, which aired on Monday, 12 June, was given to the YouTube channel Breaking Point.  

The interviewer asks Dorsey to give “some anecdotes” of the pressure the company and he was under and “what it is to be in a position to have some of the most powerful people on Earth coming to you, demanding things of your company.”

Citing India as the first example, Dorsey claimed: “India is a country that had many requests around the farmers’ 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. Turkey is very similar…”

According to Dorsey, Turkey behaved in a similar way, which often led to engagement in court battles with the government which the company won, he added.

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar called it an outright lie adding that perhaps it was an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of twitters history. 

This is an outright lie by @jack - perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of twitters history

Facts and truth@twitter undr Dorsey n his team were in repeated n continuous violations of India law. As a matter of fact they were in non-compliance with law… https://t.co/SlzmTcS3Fa

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 13, 2023

Presenting the Indian government’s case as ‘Facts and truth’, Chandrasekhar said that Twitter under Dorsey and his team were in repeated and continuous violations of the Indian laws. 

“As a matter of fact, they were in non-compliance with the law repeatedly from 2020 to 2022 and it was only June 2022 when they finally complied,” the minister said adding that no one went to jail nor was twitter "shutdown".

The minister said that Dorsey’s Twitter regime had a problem accepting the sovereignty of Indian law and it behaved as if the laws of India did not apply to it.

India as a sovereign nation has the right to ensure that its laws are followed by all companies operating in India, Chandrasekhar said.

During the protests in January 2021, the minister said, there was a lot of misinformation and even reports of genocide which were definitely fake. 

“GoI was obligated to remove misinformation from the platform because it had the potential to further inflame the situation based on fake news,” the minister said.

Exposing Twitter’s bias, Chandrasekhar said, “Such was the level of partisan behaviour on Twitter under Jack regime, that they had a problem removing misinformation from the platform in India when they did it themselves when similar events took place in the USA.”

“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 said.

Referring to the ‘Twitter files expose’, Chandrasekhar said, “There is ample evidence now in the public domain about Jack’s Twitter's arbitrary, blatantly partisan and discriminatory conduct and misuse of its power on its platform during that period.”

Twitter under Dorsey was not just violating Indian law but was partisan in how it was using "de-amplify" and de-platforming some arbitrarily in violation of Art 14,19 of our constitution and also assisting in weaponising misinformation. 

“Our govt’s policies remain clear for all Intermediaries operating in India - compliance with laws to ensure the Internet is Safe and Trusted, Accountable,” the minister concluded.