Fresh revelations have come to light in the confrontation between Big Tech and the Indian state. In an interview on Monday night, Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO, said that the social media platform had received several requests from the Indian government around the time of the farmers’ protest to take down accounts critical of it.
More worryingly, Dorsey has said that there were threats of shutting down Twitter in India, raiding the homes of its employees, and closing the company’s offices in the country in case it failed to comply with the government’s demands. Considering the influence these platforms wield in shaping public opinion in polarising times, these are serious allegations. The government has denied the allegations outright, but that may not be enough.
Surely, Twitter has questions to answer. Its actions have often been arbitrary and shrouded in opacity. The decision to de-platform Donald Trump was one such. Dorsey himself is no stranger to controversy — during his visit to India in 2018, he was seen holding a controversial poster, in the company of activists. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has provided internal documents that supposedly showcase the platform’s bias against conservatives. They also include information on controversial decisions such as blocking certain news stories and restricting the reach of certain accounts, raising serious concerns about the neutrality of these platforms. Considering the lack of transparency and accountability in its own decision-making process, for the social media company to point fingers at the government is a bit rich.
On the other hand, the government’s categorical denial is not persuasive given how heavy-handed it is in response to the criticism directed towards it, and in its approach to social media platforms. It has been reported that Twitter receives an inordinate amount of demands from India — in the last six months of 2021, of the 326 legal demands to block content posted by accounts of verified journalists and news companies, 114 came from India. The government needs to find a way to voice its concerns over social media regulation and ensure that rules of the land are abided by, while being careful not to use its coercive powers to intimidate. Big Tech needs to be more accountable and transparent in its decision-making. A more careful balance needs to be arrived at.
