Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey trolled for promoting Myanmar as a tourist destination

Indo-Asian News ServiceDec 10, 2018 08:46:00 IST

Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey, who faces a lawsuit for hurting Hindu sentiments during his visit to India in November, now faces criticism for promoting Myanmar as a tourist destination despite widespread allegations of human rights abuses in the country.

In a series of tweets, Dorsey said he had travelled to northern Myanmar in November for a meditation retreat.

"The people are full of joy and the food is amazing," he said, before encouraging his four million followers to visit.

Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square. Image: Reuters

This led to widespread criticism of the Twitter chief, some accused him of ignoring the plight of the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Mynamar is a dense choice for a social media platform owner to find zen at. But I guess, as long as you were able to still find yourself in a country that Facebook facilitated genocide in.‍♀️Mynamar military weaponized Facebook for ethnic cleansing. https://t.co/vQQRgGDARA

— Jen; Griswold ⛄️❄️ (@jennifer_enough) December 9, 2018

I’m no expert on meditation, but is it supposed to make you so self-obsessed that you forget to mention you’re in a country where the military has committed mass killings & mass rape, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, in one of today’s biggest humanitarian disasters? https://t.co/D7I26CPTQ8

— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) December 9, 2018

Vipassana is great. Now go and meet some Rohiyangas

— Roshan (@zatoichibro) December 9, 2018

I’ve interviewed dozens of #Rohingya #refugees who shared horrific details of atrocities committed against them by #Myanmar’s military. It was only in Oct that the head of a UN fact finding mission said genocide was ongoing in #Rakhine. This thread left me utterly speechless. https://t.co/j78ttbq5pF

— Mohammed Jamjoom (@MIJamjoom) December 9, 2018

It is a beautiful country it’s also currently commuing genocide against the Rohingya because they R Muslim. Writing what is effectively a free tourism advert for them at this time is reprehensible; but than as the man who lets Nazis flourish on his service guess it’s just who u R https://t.co/gPNmtwdCGP

— Manifesting the Unseen (@nazkebab77) December 9, 2018

The tone-deafness here is...wow. Is @jack not aware of social media platforms’ role in sparking genocide & mass murder of the Rohingya people? https://t.co/5tCOZioZ2F

— Tania Karas (@taniakaras) December 9, 2018

This is an extremely irresponsible recommendation. 700,000 #Rohingya forced to flee #Myanmar in just the last few years. Concentration camps still operating in Rakhine state. Thousands of women and girls raped. Babies slaughtered. If only you billionaires would open your eyes.

— Jamila Hanan (@JamilaHanan) December 9, 2018

In 2017, Myanmar's military launched a violent crackdown after Rohingya militants carried out attacks on several police posts. Thousands of people were killed, and human rights organisations said the army has burned land and committed arbitrary killings and rape.

"Writing what is effectively a free tourism advert for them at this time is reprehensible," one Twitter user wrote in response to Dorsey's tweets.

"The tone-deafness here is... wow," another user said. "This is an extremely irresponsible recommendation," yet another reads. "Does he pay no attention to the news and the outcry on his own platform?"

The military crackdown had also sparked an exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingyas who have since fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape the violence and the destruction of their homes.

The UN has described the operation as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and says senior Myanmar officials should be investigated and tried for genocide.

Mohammed Jamjoom, an Al Jazeera correspondent, who has interviewed Rohingya refugees, said he was left "utterly speechless" by Dorsey's tweets.

Dorsey is yet to respond to the criticism, but earlier said he would track the responses to his tweets.

A court in Rajasthan on December 1, asked the police to file a First Information Report against Dorsey for hurting the sentiments of the Brahmin community by posing for a picture holding an anti-Brahmin message.

Dorsey was seen posing with six female journalists in a picture on Twitter, with a poster in his hands carrying the offending anti-Brahmin message: 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy'.