Jack Dorsey Claims Indian Government Tried to Shut Down Twitter, Rajeev Chandrasekhar Responds

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has kicked up a storm after claiming to a news channel that the Indian Government tried to shut down Twitter for not listening to them during the farmer protests. Dorsey, while speaking to a news channel on the subject of operating under powerful governments, claimed that the Indian Government pressurised him to “fall in line” or they would shut down Twitter offices in India, and would raid the homes of employees.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics and Technology, Government of India has, however, termed these allegations as an “outright lie”, and an attempt to brush out a “dubious period” in the history of Twitter. Chandrasekhar went on to add that the social media giant and Dorsey, along with his team, were involved in multiple instances of violating Indian laws. According to Chandrasekhar, these violations occurred consistently from 2020 to 2022, indicating a pattern of non-compliance. It wasn't until June 2022 that the company reportedly took steps to rectify the situation and achieved compliance with the relevant laws.

He went on to add that the Indian Government only wanted to act against the fake news on genocide and other related news during the farmer protests. "No one went to jail nor was Twitter “shutdown". Dorsey’s Twitter regime had a problem accepting the sovereignty of Indian law. It behaved as if the laws of India did not apply to it. India as a sovereign nation has the right to ensure that its laws are followed by all companies operating in India. During the protests in January 2021, there was a lot of misinformation and even reports of genocide which were definitely fake.  Indian Government was obligated to remove misinformation from the platform because it had the potential to further inflame the situation based on fake news,” he said.

Chandrasekhar also added that during Jack Dorsey's tenure at Twitter, a concerning level of partisan behavior was observed on the platform. One particular issue that came to light was the company's struggle to effectively address misinformation in India, despite having taken action in similar situations in the United States.

“There is now abundant evidence in the public domain that highlights Twitter's arbitrary, blatantly partisan, and discriminatory behavior under Jack Dorsey's leadership, as well as its misuse of power on the platform during that period. It is evident that Twitter not only violated Indian law but also exhibited a partisan approach in its use of "deamplify" and deplatforming measures, which were carried out arbitrarily and in violation of Article 14 and 19 of the Indian Constitution. Additionally, there are concerns that Twitter's actions may have inadvertently contributed to the weaponization of misinformation on the platform,” stated the minister while adding that these findings raised significant questions about Twitter's adherence to constitutional principles and its responsibility in combatting misinformation and ensuring a fair and unbiased platform environment during Dorsey’s tenure.