Twitter’s Troubles in India Threats of Closure and Home Invasions Unveiled by Jack Dorsey
Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey has revealed that India, despite being the world’s largest democracy, frequently made demands for the social media giant to remove specific posts and accounts. Dorsey stated that India targeted content related to farmers’ protests and critical journalists, often accompanied by threats of legal consequences for noncompliance.
In early 2021, Twitter faced orders from the Indian government to suspend hundreds of accounts and limit the visibility of certain hashtags. These directives were backed by threats of legal action against the US-based company. Most of the suspended accounts were supportive of the farmers’ protests against proposed legislation.
Dorsey highlighted that the Indian government’s threats took the form of shutting down Twitter in the country, raiding employees’ homes (which was carried out), and closing Twitter offices if the demands were not met. These actions are concerning given India’s status as a democratic nation, according to Dorsey in an interview with Breaking Points.
While Twitter previously resisted government requests to remove content or suspend accounts, it eventually sued the Indian government to challenge the imposed restrictions. However, compared to its American counterparts, Twitter took longer to comply with India’s newly implemented IT regulations. These regulations require companies to disclose contact information of regulatory compliance representatives and establish a grievance redressal system.
As a result of noncompliance with the regulations in 2021, the Delhi Police conducted surprise visits to two of Twitter’s offices in India. Twitter expressed concern about these events, stating it was worried about the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people it serves.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the federal deputy minister for information technology in India, refuted Dorsey’s statements and accused him of trying to disregard Twitter’s dubious history. Chandrasekhar claimed that Twitter, under Dorsey’s leadership, repeatedly violated Indian law and only complied in June 2022 after continuous noncompliance from 2020 to 2022. Chandrasekhar emphasized that India has the right to ensure that its laws are followed by all companies operating within the country, and Twitter had difficulty accepting Indian law’s sovereignty. He stated that during the January 2021 protests, the Indian government needed to remove misinformation from the platform to prevent the spread of fake news that could escalate the situation.
