Twitter is stuck between a rock and a hard place in India

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Early last week, Twitter (TWTR) reportedly hundreds of accounts suspended at the request of the government, including a handle with more than 200,000 followers supporting farmers’ ongoing protests against new agricultural reforms and another belonging to one of the country’s leading magazines.
“In our ongoing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we have a correct range request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to deny access to certain content in a particular country from time to time, ” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement at the time.
The company recovered the accounts a few hours later after a public outcry, but is now reportedly under pressure from authorities to block them again. According to a report by BuzzFeed News, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent a message to Twitter threatening its employees with up to seven years in prison.

Twitter said it has acknowledged receipt of the notification and sought “formal dialogue” with the Indian government.

“The safety of our employees is a top priority for us at Twitter,” a company spokesperson told CNN Business. “We remain committed to the government of India from a position of respect,” added the spokesman.

The Indian government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Who blinks first?

With over 700 million internet users, India is a huge and important market for global technology companies, albeit an increasingly precise market as the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to tighten its grip on the internet and social media.

Modi’s government has previously clashed with platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp and has proposed regulations that would increase its ability to control content online. It also banned TikTok and dozens of other apps last year following diplomatic tensions with China escalated, and the has resorted to a complete shutdown of the internet in various parts of the country to curb the protests.
India cuts off internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police
Now Twitter is the latest company to put itself in the crosshairs of the government. The platform has become an important channel for public – and increasingly international – debate between proponents and critics of the Indian government’s agricultural laws. According to research firm Statista, the company had about 19 million users in India since October last year – more than any other country except the United States and Japan.

“The shrinking space for civil society is mirrored by censorship and anti-democratic regulatory measures to censor users of their right to freedom of expression,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director at advocacy group Equality Labs. “It is time for the world to understand how much is currently at stake and for US companies such as Twitter and Facebook to take action before it is too late.”

Twitter appears to be holding out against the Indian government for now by keeping the accounts active.

“We review any report we receive from the government as soon as possible, and take appropriate action with respect to such reports, while ensuring that we adhere to our fundamental values ​​and commitment to protect the public conversation,” said the spokesman from the company. “We strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact, and that the tweets should keep flowing.”

But if the government chooses to live up to its threats or further escalate the situation, Twitter has few good options.

“There are two main risks: the first is for Twitter employees in India, who may be at risk if the company fails to comply,” said Jillian York, director of Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The second risk is that Twitter will continue to decline and be blocked in India. While this may be the correct moral outcome, it is obviously not the best outcome for the Indian population, many of whom rely on social media to spread important messages about what. happens on the ground, ”she added.

A man reads tweets from Indian celebrities, one of many who support the Indian government, on his cellphone in New Delhi, India on Thursday.

Threading the needle

While Twitter and the Indian government are at an impasse, both sides also face external scrutiny.

Social media companies have long been under pressure to do more to combat disinformation and hate speech on their platforms. And those issues, which are hotly debated in the United States, often have far-reaching and sinister consequences in countries where the companies have a smaller business footprint but a much greater impact.
Twitter has been more proactive in scrutinizing its platform in recent months, deleting thousands of accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory and taking out one of its most prolific and controversial users – former US President Donald Trump. With that ban, Twitter showed a willingness to apply its policies to a world leader who violated it, albeit towards the end of its term. Its stalemate in India also pits against a powerful world leader in a major market.

“Jack has shown in the past that he can lead the way with his values,” said Soundararajan, referring to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

But India, with more than three times the population of the United States and a very different social and political context, is one of the toughest challenges for Twitter outside its home country. In another clear setback, the company also confirmed this week that India’s head of government policy, Mahima Kaul, will step down in April after more than five years. (Twitter doesn’t break down user data for India, but third-party research suggests the country is one of the bigger markets.)

“The fundamental problem is consistency … are they able to do the same kind of contextual analysis that they did on QAnon messages, hydroxychloroquine messages and Trump’s inducement?” said David Kaye, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who previously served as the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. “India is a really great example of how difficult that is.”

India, which considers itself the world’s largest democracy, must also gauge its response. Even as it battles Twitter, Modi’s government is waging an observation battle with some of Twitter’s most prominent voices – the country’s State Department recently released a statement hitting “ sensational hashtags and social media comments ”. especially when used by celebrities and others. after tweets about the farmer’s protests by singer Rihanna and environmentalist Greta Thunberg went viral.

“I think there is still a risk to Modi in particular that it doesn’t seem to be able to deal with basic democratic principles such as the right to peaceful assembly, the right to protest, the right to criticize, and so on,” Kaye said . “I think it will be interesting to see if the Biden government and other governments that are friends with India but are in the democratic camp are really encouraging the government to take a different approach here.”

– Manveena Suri and Esha Mitra from CNN contributed to this report.

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