"Many Foreign Forces Get Active During Polls": BJP Slams Twitter Ex-CEO

The BJP on Tuesday came down heavily on former Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey terming "false" his allegations that the Indian government pressured the company to remove critical posts during the farmers' protest.

The allegations are an attempt to cover-up the "misdeeds" of the firm when he was in charge, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur alleged.

He said many "foreign forces" get active at the time of elections to vitiate the democratic process and build tension, but such attempts have failed in the past and would not succeed in the future also.

"Such elements within the country and abroad will never be able to destabilise the nation which is being led by a strong leader," the minister told reporters here.

Anurag Thakur said the 'Twitter files' had exposed the social media platform was "misused and there was bias and tinkering".

In an interview, Dorsey claimed the Indian government had threatened to shut Twitter's operations in India unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the government during farmers' protest, an accusation Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar dismissed as an "outright lie".

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was Union IT and communications minister for much of the period Dorsey referred to, rejected his allegations and lashed out at the Congress for "playing politics" through the "sacked" CEO of the company.

"No threat was issued to Twitter. We did, however, flag anti-India activities being entertained on the micro-blogging site," Prasad told reporters.

"We did raise objections to Twitter timelines teeming with footage of the Tricolour being pulled down at the Red Fort and police personnel being beaten up," mr Prasad said, in an oblique reference to the unsavoury events that took place during agitations against the farm laws.

"There were also instances of unverified accounts of people not living in the country engaging in anti-India activities. We had requested that they act against such users," Mr Prasad added.

The BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said Twitter was in violation of laws between 2020-2022 when Dorsey was at the helm of affairs.

"The truth of the matter is that Twitter was in violation of India laws for an extended period, between 2020-2022. But, neither was Twitter ever shut down nor its employees raided or sent to jail, despite Dorsey and his colleagues actively pursuing a policy, which was at loggerheads with Indian regulations," he charged.

They were also allowing their platform to be used by foreign forces inimical to India's interest which posed a grave threat to the country's national security and well-being, he added.

All this happened even as Twitter was obliged to follow Indian laws, he said. 

The BJP leader alleged that Twitter under Dorsey had turned "rogue, disregarding laws of the sovereigns they operated in, muzzling freedom of speech (shadow banning ideologically differing voices) and in many cases promoting secessionist voices and those who were working to exacerbate social fault lines, including several Twitter employees (Dorsey himself is guilty of it)..." The 'Twitter Files', released after Elon Musk got rid of "toxic people" in Twitter, is a testimony, he said. 

"It can't be the case that Twitter was always in the right and every other government, including their own, in the US, was wrong," he added.

Mr Malviya also slammed the Congress, wondering why the opposition party was "excited" by an "invertebrate liar's misplaced assertions".

"What is their compulsion to latch on to anyone who speaks against India? Rahul Gandhi goes abroad and seeks help of foreign powers and his minions in India amplify stray disposed voices to demonise India... Is leaning on foreign money and media the only way Congress hopes to undermine the will of the people and unseat a democratically elected Govt?" the BJP leader asked.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra also alleged that Twitter had violated law.

During the farmers' protests in January 2021, he said, there was a "significant amount of misinformation circulating, including reports of genocide that were later proven to be false." 

"The Government of India has the responsibility to make intermediaries operating in India comply with the country's laws to maintain accountability and a safe online space. Twitter was certainly not complying with the Indian Laws," Mr Patra added.

Dorsey, who quit as Twitter CEO in 2021, made the sensational allegation in an interview with the YouTube news show Breaking Points on Monday.

The former Twitter CEO claimed that the Indian government "pressured" the company with threats of a shutdown and raids on employees if it did not comply with requests to take down posts and restrict accounts that were critical of the government over the protest by farmers against new laws in 2020 and 2021.

Rubbishing the claims, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "Twitter under Dorsey and his team were in repeated and continuous violations of India law. As a matter of fact they were in non-compliance with law repeatedly from 2020 to 2022 and it was only June 2022 when they finally complied".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)