Twitter ex-CEO Jack Dorsey reveals Indian government’s ‘pressure’ during farmers’ protest

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has claimed that the Indian government threatened to shut down the social media platform in the country if it did not act against the dissenting voices during the farmers’ protest that rocked the nation in 2020-21.

In an interview with YouTube channel Breaking Points, Dorsey said that the Indian authorities had many requests of Twitter around the farmers’ protest, especially 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,” Dorsey said.

The former Twitter CEO’s comments have sparked a political controversy in India, with opposition parties accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to crush the farmers’ movement and silence the critics.

“The BJP and the government tried to crush the farmers protest, They tried to defame the movement, They called farmers terrorists, They called farmers anti national They lathicharged the farmers They let farmers die, They tried to silence the opposition in parliament,” Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted.

The farmers’ protest was one of the biggest challenges faced by Twitter in India, as it had to balance between complying with the government’s demands and upholding its own policies of free speech and expression.

In February 2021, the government asked Twitter to remove hundreds of accounts that criticised the Centre over its handling of the large-scale farmers’ protests that started in November 2020. The social media platform initially refused, but eventually relented after its local employees were threatened with prison time.

The Centre had also repeatedly criticised Twitter for not fully complying with the new Information Technology rules that came into force in May 2021. The new rules require social media platforms to appoint local officers, remove objectionable content within 36 hours and assist in investigations.

Twitter has been involved in several legal battles with the Indian government over various issues, such as blocking accounts related to Kashmir, labelling tweets by BJP leaders as manipulated media and displaying an incorrect map of India.

Dorsey’s interview has brought back the spotlight on the strained relationship between Twitter and the Indian government, and raised questions about the future of free speech and democracy in the country.

There is no reaction yet from the Government of India on Dorsey’s claims at the time of writing this blog post.