independent.co.uk/news/world/asi… India threatens to jail Twitter employees for non compliance with orders to ban accounts and posts related to farmers agitation. A short thread on the hypocrisy of the reactions to this
After Twitter banned several posts&a/c in US including that of then President of US,it has no moral ground to complain when GoI threatens to act for refusing to replicate the act in India. If Twitter complains, it is essentially saying it has the sole right 2 decide who can post.
But Twitter can not claim any kind of sovereignty. It is a pvt company and subject to the laws of the land. It can contest GoI in a court in India, but that’s about it. From a principled POV, a nation state must be more powerful than a pvt company because its rulers are elected.
Which post is legal, which isn’t - that determination should not be a private company’s but an elected Govt’s. Repeat - in a democracy a Govt has been elected to enforce the law of the land by the people of the land. No one has elected a pvt a company to do that job
That said, India needs to change her laws to enable free speech. Ideal operating condition - First Amendment like law & a law that penalizes private companies from banning legal speech.
Lastly, it is amusing to observe some in US cheering on censorship by Twitter in US expressing outrage that GoI has threatened to act against Twitter in India for not doing the same even after being asked to do so. You know they are partisans of which side.
Until GoI restricts Twitter’s ability to ban accounts and posts, as soon as Twitter senses that there is a possibility of regime change, they will ban accounts of top leaders including that of the PM, HM etc. Mark my words - BJP-RSS is preparing its burning ground by not acting.
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