Twitter accused of mass censorship on anti-Modi rhetoric in India
3 Min Read
Twitter is accused of collaborating with the Indian government to impose an unprecedented broad crackdown on Modi's critics.
-
This photo shows Twitter’s logo. (AP)
In India, Twitter has been under fire for caving into political pressure by recently removing from its platform the accounts of a large number of well-known journalists, politicians, and activists.
The Indian government sent notifications to Twitter to remove people in the aftermath of an internet blackout across the northern state of Punjab, during a manhunt for a local Sikh nationalist leader, Amritpal Singh.
The Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh, the Canadian poet Rupi Kaur, several journalists, and an Indian MP are among the more than 120 accounts that Twitter has agreed to remove. The BBC's Punjabi bureau's handle was also disabled on Twitter.
Read next: Snowden as Musk takes Twitter: Censorship had gone too far
On March 21, Twitter sent Jaskaran Sandhu, a co-founder of the Sikh diaspora-focused Baaz News in Toronto, an email informing him that his account had been blocked in India. No specific tweet or activity by Sandhu was mentioned by Twitter in the email, which was obtained by The Guardian.
“The Indian government has made it a norm to take draconian measures and crack down on dissent coming from Sikh or other minority communities,” Sandhu said. “Twitter’s actions are just another example [that imply] civil liberties and democratic rights are under attack.”
“My entire account, not any tweet, has been banned in India. It is blanket censorship. And there is absolute silence from Twitter on this.”
The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been charged with "pushing India toward authoritarianism" by the US-based NGO Freedom House, which lowered India's status from "free" to "partly free" in 2021.
Elon Musk, who took over Twitter in October and declares himself a "free speech absolutist," tweeted in response to a tweet concerning censorship in India, "It is not possible for me to solve every aspect of Twitter worldwide tomorrow, while simultaneously running Tesla and SpaceX, among other things."
Since traditional media outlets mainly gave in to pressure from the government to follow its position, social media platforms, such as Twitter, were considered among the few remaining platforms for Indians to express their dissent.
Most of the content being blocked, according to Prateek Waghre, policy director of the Internet Freedom Fund, was news coverage that did not favorably portray the administration.
"There is no contention. It is just absurd,” he added.
According to reports, Musk has reduced Twitter's employment in India by 90% since taking over. It's uncertain whether Twitter still employs individuals to review these requests, Waghre added.
“The question is also on the willingness of a pushback, which has certainly reduced [since Musk takeover],” he said.
The situation is "very grim", according to Raqib Hameed Naik, the creator of Hindutva Watch, a US-based website that monitors hate crimes in India.
“Big tech has completely surrendered to the authoritarian regime of PM Narendra Modi,” he said. “Twitter’s conduct in India sets a worrying trend of silencing media, critics, and dissenters worldwide.”
The hard-right Hindu nationalist government of India has long been condemned for ignoring the rights of minorities, most notably Muslims, through state-sponsored surveillance and internet blackouts.
Read next: What's behind Indian extremists’ anti-Muslim theory?
