NEW DELHI: The Congress Tuesday demanded answers from the Modi government after ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claimed the platform was threatened it would be shut down unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the government during the farmers' protest.
The Centre has, however, rubbished the charges, saying Dorsey's Twitter regime had a problem accepting the sovereignty of Indian law.
The Congress also demanded answers from the Modi government over the issue and alleged that there cannot be bigger proof of the "weakening of democracy" in the country by targeting institutions.
"We demand that the government stops suppressing social media, stops suppressing, coaxing large sections of media into submission," Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference here, and further added, "Opposition voices are regularly being suppressed by the government."
#WATCH | On former CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey's claim on ‘pressure’ from India, Congress party's Chairperson of Social Media & Digital Platforms Supriya Shrinate says, "The topic of this press conference is to reveal how murder of democracy is being done in the mother of… pic.twitter.com/gLMK9C9PKb
— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2023Shrinate said Twitter had banned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's account after "pressure" from the government, and alleged that the "truth" has come out after Dorsey's claim. "The prime minister is afraid because crores have been spent to build his image and that gets demolished when such truth comes out," she said, and added that Dorsey would not benefit anyway by speaking out now.
"There cannot be bigger proof of the weakening of democracy in the country by targeting institutions. This is the truth of this government," Shrinate claimed.
In a tweet, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said, "The Modi Government forced Twitter to shut down accounts of Farmers and Farmer's movement, shut down accounts of journalists critical of Government, or Twitter and its employees would be raided."
"This is what Twitter Co-Founder and Ex CEO Jack Dorsey admits in a TV interview. Will Modi Government answer," he asked.
Modi Govt. forced twitter to Shut down accounts of Farmers & Farmer’s movement, Shut down accounts of journalists critical of Govt, OR Twitter and its employees would be raided. This is what Twitter Co Founder and Ex CEO Jack Dorsey admits in a TV… pic.twitter.com/OmpSHl8RlI
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 13, 2023He also shared clips from a TV interview in which Dorsey levelled the allegations.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh too took to Twitter, saying, "During the farmers agitation the cowardly BJP government threatened to shut down Twitter & raid the homes of their employees."
During the farmers agitation the cowardly BJP government threatened to shut down Twitter & raid the homes of their employees. Watch our press conference on revelations by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey by my colleague @SupriyaShrinate at 11am.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 13, 2023Dorsey, who quit as Twitter CEO in 2021, made the sensational allegation in an interview with the YouTube news show Breaking Points on Monday.
He 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.
"It manifested in ways such as: 'We will shut Twitter down in India', which is a very large market for us; 'we will raid the homes of your employees', which they did; And this is India, a democratic country," he said talking about pressure Twitter under him faced from the Indian government.
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 the law repeatedly from 2020 to 2022 and it was only June 2022 when they finally complied."
