Times when Jack Dorsey's Twitter crossed the line

Jack Dorsey’s recent comments on India and the Indian government blackmailing them into suppressing tweets and shadow banning or completely blocking certain tweets as well as users, has caused a massive controversy. Dorsey, who like Musk, has often positioned himself as a bastion of free speech, has at many times, been involved in some controversy or the other in India. More often than not, Twitter and the Government of India have been at loggerheads over some contentious issue or other. Here are just seven instances out of many when Twitter was at the centre of a controversy because of their many tussles with the Indian government Fighting India’s Information Technology Rules, 2021 The Indian government has strongly criticized Twitter for deliberately defying and failing to adhere to the country’s new IT rules. These rules, which became effective on May 25, 2021, require social media companies to establish a mechanism to address grievances and resolve complaints from users or victims. According to the rules, significant social media companies with over 50 lakh user base must appoint a grievance officer and provide their name and contact details. As a consequence of its failure to comply with the new digital rules, Twitter lost its legal protection in India from prosecution over users’ posts on June 16. Twitter has argued that these norms infringe upon freedom of expression and the right to privacy as they push back against implementing them. On a number of occasions, Twitter has gone to court against the Indian government, fighting tooth and nail to not pursue cases and resolve issues. Failure to act on Child Pornography On a number of occasions, Twitter has failed to act on something as basic as Child Pornography, for the most inane of reasons. Not only has Twitter failed to respond to requests filed by the police and the Indian government to take down child pornography in India on multiple occasions, it has even refused to abide by such instructions even in the US, only to say that more often than such content is so cleverly disguised that it doesn’t necessarily violate their content policy Locking India’s IT minister out of his Twitter account When Ravi Shankar Prasad was the Minister for Electronics & Information Technology The minister was unable to access his own Twitter account for nearly an hour one day. During this time, although the Minister’s Twitter account remained visible to the public, Twitter did not grant authorization to anyone to log in or make any posts on his behalf. The minister’s team reported that Twitter did not provide any advance notice or intimation prior to blocking access to the account. Furthermore, Twitter did not specify any specific content that was considered to be in violation of US copyright laws. Showing the wrong Indian map Twitter’s India Managing Director, Manish Maheshwari, has been named in a First Information Report (FIR) in Uttar Pradesh due to an incorrect map of India displayed on the platform. The map depicted Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as separate countries, which is inaccurate. This is the second instance where Twitter has misrepresented India’s map, as it previously showed Leh as part of China. After facing criticism and government attention, Twitter reportedly removed the map. A complaint has been filed by Praveen Bhati, a leader of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal, stating that this act of treason was intentional and action should be taken. The case has been filed under Section 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to creating or promoting enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different social classes, and Section 74 of the IT (Amendment) Act 2008. A separate case was also filed for the same offense. Flaring communal sentiments Once, Twitter and several journalists were named in a First Information Report (FIR) for allegedly “flaring communal sentiments.” The case was filed in response to a video where an elderly Muslim man claimed that his beard was forcibly cut off and he was coerced into chanting slogans like “Vande Mataram” and “Jai Shri Ram.” However, the police have already ruled out any “communal angle” to the incident. The allegation against Twitter is that it failed to delete a tweet even after the Ghaziabad police provided a clarification regarding the incident. The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police, after investigating the matter, ruled out any communal angle in the case. According to the police, Sufi Abdul Samad, the elderly man, was attacked by a group of six men, consisting of both Hindus and Muslims. The motive behind the attack was reportedly dissatisfaction over the amulets he had sold to them. Several Right Wing Leaders had their verified badges removed Twitter had also faced backlash when it had briefly removed the blue tick verification badge from the personal account of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and of several senior RSS functionaries including its chief, Mohan Bhagwat. Not acting against vaccine hesitancy The government has accused Twitter of contributing to vaccine hesitancy and criticized the platform for its lack of responsibility. The Ministry of Information Technology has stated that Twitter’s failure to take action against the rampant proliferation of fake and harmful content against India and Indians, including the promotion of vaccine hesitancy, raises concerns about its commitment to the people of India. 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