Politics

Jack Dorsey: Several Countries Have Threatened Twitter Shutdowns

JUN 13 2023·Updated JUN 14 2023

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Image credit: JD Lasica [via Wikimedia Commons]

The Facts

In a recent interview on YouTube, Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey stated that India, Nigeria, and Turkey have often threatened to ban the social media site if it refuses to comply with instructions to restrict accounts.
Tech Times
Dorsey told the YouTube channel Breaking Points that India had made numerous requests to remove the accounts of journalists who were critical of the government during the farmers’ protests in 2021.
Tech Times
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's Minister of State for Electronics and IT, responded that, under Dorsey, Twitter was in "repeated and continuous violations of India law" and at times "weaponized misinformation."
The Indian Express
Additionally, Dorsey said that Twitter couldn't send its employees to Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, out of fear of the proliferation of human rights abuses under Pres. Muhammadu Buhari.
Al Jazeera
The Nigerian government suspended the platform for several months after Twitter removed a 2021 post from Buhari threatening to punish regional secessionists.
Al Jazeera
Ankara, according to Dorsey, also made multiple requests to limit speech on the platform. "We fought Turkey in their courts and often won," he said, "but they threatened to shut us down constantly." Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO in 2021 and billionaire Elon Musk purchased the platform the following year.
BBC News

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Dorsey's revelations should come as no surprise considering the backdrop of Modi's hounding of BBC journalists in recent months, but the fact that the BJP government threatened Twitter with bans and raids on company employees is still a shocking indictment of efforts to quash free speech in the nation. The comments highlight the fragility of democracy in India, unequivocally showing the tyrannical direction in which the Modi government is headed.

The Wire

Establishment-critical narrative

Despite Dorsey's seemingly pious public statements, the former CEO's selective truth-telling is in fact an assault on the Modi government. Twitter repeatedly violated India's legislation under his leadership, with Dorsey himself even communicating his belief that the social media platform should be exempt from such regulations. The company stands accused of itself suppressing free speech, while a senior legal executive for Twitter has admitted its liability in interfering in Indian elections. Dorsey's anti-Modi comments are part of a farcical circus of fabrication.

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