Just a day after being asked by the government to block the accounts peddling anti-national agenda, Twitter is playing the victim card over the safety of its employees. The social media platform reached out to the government for formal dialogue and at the time argued that the safety of its “is a top priority” for the company.
“Safety of our employees is a top priority for us at Twitter. We continue to be engaged with the Government of India from a position of respect and have reached out to the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for a formal dialogue,” said the spokesperson of Twitter.
This comes a day after the Union Ministry of Information and Technology asked the social media platform to block more than 1,000 accounts that were spreading Khalistani propaganda.
“We strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact, and that the Tweets must continue to flow,” said Twitter’s spokesperson.
Yesterday the Modi government has asked Twitter to block 1,178 accounts that are associated with Khalistani sympathisers or backed by Pakistan. The government also showed its displeasure over the social media giant’s decision to restore 250 accounts that the government asked it to suspend after a vicious hashtag against PM Modi. While Twitter did initially ban such accounts, within hours, they were restored after the Left-leaning platform took it upon itself to adjudicate on the validity of such tweets.
An infuriated Modi government had not only increased the number of accounts it has asked to be suspended, but also warned that punitive action can be taken if Twitter does not suspend the accounts. The IT ministry received the demand for suspension of these accounts from the Home Ministry and security agencies and later directed Twitter to suspend the accounts under Section 69A of the IT Act.
It is a well-known fact that Twitter, whose founder Jack Dorsey was seen in India with ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’ placards, favours one ideology and deplatforms the people with the other ideology. In the last few weeks, social media platforms have been under fire in many countries for choosing political sides. Countries like Germany, France, and Australia have openly spoken against the platform’s misadventures over the ban on the account of Donald Trump.
The restoration of accounts by Twitter has acted as a testimony to the platform’s inherent bias against India’s nationalists and the right-wing, so much so that it readily defied the directions of the government to pander to the country’s coterie of left-liberals.
The Modi government, however, has now turned the tables on Twitter and made it clear that if the microblogging site refuses to obey the directives, it would be inviting hell upon itself – which would range from the American company coughing up a large sum of money to its top executives being lodged in Indian jails.
Realising its mistake that it took upon a government that will not tolerate its whims and fancies, Twitter has now come up with a giant victim card of “employee safety”. However, the people of India, as well as the government officials, are already looking for alternatives and the massive rise in popularity of social media platforms like Koo (an Indian alternative to Twitter) and Parler are the best examples of the same.