In calling for Twitter to abide by law of land, Elon Musk has taken correct call; he deserves praise

A recent interview of Elon Musk by the BBC has garnered a lot of attention. The interview gives a half-yearly update on Musk’s takeover of the social network which he described as quite a “painful experience.” The world’s second-richest man revealed why he went ahead with the $44 billion acquisition, his plans to reverse losses, layoffs, etc. Musk also busted the BBC reporter’s claims during the interview that “hate speech on the platform has gone up” since his takeover and accused the reporter of “lying”. Of particular interest to Indians is the exchange between the two on social media laws in India which Musk described as “quite strict” and said that he would rather comply with those laws than risk sending his employees to prison. The exchange is worth noting because it reveals how western discourse on India’s democratic framework is shaped and how global tech giants — that have a monopoly on cyberspace and thus control the critical levers of global narratives —  are tacitly urged to confront, defy and even override the Global South’s judicial and legal frameworks, sovereign authority and their legitimate concerns over security, disinformation and propaganda. This particular exchange centred around the orders issued by New Delhi asking Twitter to block tweets that were linked to a BBC documentary on 2002 Gujarat riots released in January this year that ‘found’ Indian prime minister Narendra Modi (then CM of Gujarat) ‘directly responsible’ for the riots, even though this dubious narrative has repeatedly fallen flat before legal and judicial scrutiny. Modi has been exonerated by India’s top court of any wrongdoing or culpability. The “rigorously researched” documentary, that stitched its fantastic narrative by clever acts of omission and commission, was purportedly based on a previously unknown British government “inquiry” into the riots “ordered” in 2002 by former British foreign secretary Jack Straw, even though Straw had neither the locus standi nor the authority to “order an inquiry”. India has called it “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative” reeking of “bias”, “lack of objectivity, and a continuing colonial mindset.” BBC didn’t air it in India, but the documentary was uploaded on and spread through global tech platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Musk was asked if some of the content around the BBC documentary was taken off Twitter at the behest of the Indian government, to which the social network owner clarified that he was not aware of that “particular situation” and doesn’t know “what exactly happened with some content situation in India.” Read - Twitter will abide by the 'strict' laws of India: Elon Musk To which the interviewer sought to push back, asking Musk that “do you get that if you do that, you can incentivise countries around the world to simply pass more draconian laws.” In reply, Musk said “No — look, if we have a choice of either our people go to prison, or we comply with the laws, we’ll comply with the laws… Same goes for the BBC,” in a likely reference to the British media outlet’s ongoing travails in India. On Thursday, India’s Enforcement Directorate, an organization that investigates offences regarding money laundering and foreign exchange violations, filed a FEMA case against BBC India over irregularities in foreign funding. The above exchange is just one random example of western liberal democracies’ ‘crusader impulse’ that leads the West into imposing its hegemony through interventionist policies. A fake news documentary by a foreign media outlet around a sensitive issue in India, that would have resulted in proliferation of false and misleading information and communal disharmony, was restricted from spreading. That restriction (in accord with Indian laws) was alleged to be “draconian”. The implication was that a foreign government may carry out interventionist operations in India — even by spreading disinformation — to meet political objectives, and Twitter must be an ally to that project. There is a reason behind this attempt. Big tech wields the kind of power that even the world’s top superpower cannot dream of. The tech giants enjoy monopoly over consumers, make up seven of the 10 biggest companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation and corner roughly 5 per cent of global GDP. Take only the five American giants. Collectively called FAANG (Facebook (now Meta), Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (now Alphabet)), they have a market cap of $2.4 trillion, a figure roughly equivalent to the GDP of France. Along with Twitter, these tech giants now direct the course of global discourse and have become a useful tool and ally for the western liberal hegemonistic project. A select few companies that have cornered the monopolistic ‘Big Tech’ space now act as ‘super sovereigns’. In absence of strong regulatory frameworks in nation-states that have failed to keep up with the progress of technology, and crucial enforcement gaps in most countries and regions where they operate, these tech giants have learnt the art of stifling competition and perpetuating their dominance. They do this by acting as gatekeepers of global information channels. Quite naturally, the ‘jurisdiction’ of these super sovereigns is ever expanding. Companies such as Meta, Alphabet, Twitter are the arbiters of abstract yet critical notions such as ‘truth’, ‘justice’ ‘hate speech’ or ‘free speech’ and conduct their business across the globe without any accountability to the communities and societies where they operate, showing scant regard for local laws and regulatory frameworks and exploiting “non-existent privacy and weak intermediary liability laws” Refer - Samir Saran, Big Tech and the State: The necessity of regulating tech giants This poses a critical challenge to the sovereign authority of nation states. For instance, in February 2021, India’s ministry of electronics and IT (MEITY) directed Twitter to block around 250 Tweets/Twitter accounts that were disseminating hateful, fake and intimidatory content along with running a provocative ‘hashtag’ around farmers’ protests.

Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) directed Twitter to block around 250 Tweets/Twitter accounts which were using 'Modi Planning Farmer Genocide' hashtag & making fake, intimidatory & provocative Tweets on Jan 30: Sources on Twitter Accounts being withheld pic.twitter.com/LIvZjbevRX

— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2021

Twitter, during the pre-Musk era, eventually complied with withholding some accounts within India, but refused to block certain accounts, temporarily did so for some, and stayed defiant throughout while giving a long sermon on “fundamental rights and freedom of expression”. Amusingly, this is the same company that deplatformed a sitting US president and just ahead of presidential elections in the US, took the lead in acting as the certified political agent for Joe Biden. This is the same platform that arbitrarily censored vaccine data and tweets from noted American doctors and epidemiologists because Twitter executives thought it fit to do so. Twitter, during the pre-Musk era, routinely suppressed conservative voices and arbitrarily deplatformed, shadow banned or downgraded conservative influencers through an opaque and furtive process. It also targeted Hindu nationalists and supporters of BJP in India. In 2021, a US-government funded organization, which claims to expose fake news, marked 40,000 Twitter handled as those belonging to ‘Hindu nationalists’ but it was later found that the list was fake. The handles mentioned were primarily ordinary Americans who have never set foot in India or supported the BJP. More importantly, after a wave of strict anti-trust and privacy laws were drafted in the Global North, including the comprehensive ‘Digital Services Act’ and ‘Digital Markets Act’ in Europe that “aim to create a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected and to establish a level playing field for businesses”, the big tech firms are increasingly seen complying with the regulatory framework in the West while flouting those or exploiting the lack of it in Global South. To shape its digital future, the developing nations must update their regulatory framework and remove the gaps in enforcement. The tech platforms have been allowed a free hand so far and they have created a paradigm where — at least in the developing world — there has been a perceptible shift away in power hierarchy from the sovereign authority of nation-states to these ‘digital sovereigns’ who now lay claim over the data generated by the nation-states’ citizens. In this context, Musk’s views carry significance. The world’s second-richest man is a self-declared “free speech absolutist” but has consistently maintained that Twitter must abide by the laws of the land where it operates. Soon after taking over Twitter, Musk had said that “by ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law… I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”

By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.

I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.

If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.

Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022

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Big tech cannot be allowed to become the self-appointed referee of free speech and run roughshod over the sovereign authority of nation-states. The states must also assert claims over the data generated by own citizens, especially as internet penetration takes off in India. Data localization, strengthening of regulatory framework must go hand-in-hand with enforcement, so that these companies are made accountable and forced to comply with laws that have been passed through rigorous Parliamentary oversight bearing the assent of the population. Compliance standards should also be standardized. This will also disable the ability of tech giants to act as conduits for western liberal hegemonic project that seeks to ‘cast the world in its own image’ through influence operations and interventionist policies in the garb of ‘human rights’ or evangelism of western values. Musk has taken the correct call. He deserves praise. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.