Editor's Pick: Twitter faced threats, says ex-CEO; Centre denies claim

Twitter’s former chief executive officer (CEO) Jack Dorsey said the Indian government had threatened to shut down the social media platform in the country unless it complied with its orders during the farmers’ protest in 2020-21, a claim the Centre on Tuesday dismissed as an “outright lie.” In an interview with Breaking Points, a YouTube channel, Mr. Dorsey said, “India is a country that had many requests of us around the farmers’ protests, around particular journalists that were critical of the government… It manifested in ways such as ‘We’ll shut Twitter down in India’, which is a very large market for us, ‘We’re going to raid the homes of your employees’, which they did, and ‘We will shut down your offices if you don’t follow suit’ — and this is India, a democratic country.” He alleged that the government demanded “contact information” tied to certain accounts in addition to shutting them down. However, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar termed the allegations an “outright lie.” “No one went to jail nor was Twitter ‘shut down’,” Mr. Chandrasekhar said, adding that Twitter had continuously resisted Indian laws until July 2022, when it “finally complied”. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur also slammed the ex-CEO, and said, “Jack Dorsey awakens after years of slumber, wishing to conceal his dark deeds.” Mr. Dorsey quit as Twitter CEO in 2021 and Elon Musk purchased the platform in 2022. Meanwhile, reacting to Mr. Dorsey’s claim, the Congress on Tuesday said the BJP government had adopted the “toolkit of dictatorship” that it borrowed from British imperialists. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hit out at the government, saying that the BJP is “embarrassing” the country. In a Twitter post, he said the ruling party’s progenitor, the RSS, had worked for the British and against Indians during the freedom struggle. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also alleged that Twitter had banned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s account under “pressure” from the government. Mr. Dorsey’s allegation, Ms. Shrinate said, had exposed the government. “The Prime Minister is afraid because crores have been spent to build his image and that gets demolished when truth comes out,” she added. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here. The Hindu’s Editorials The next step: On Manipur and the path to normalcy Love all: On Djokovic’s latest feat The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz What is the RBI’s upper tolerance limit for inflation? 5% 6% 6.5% 7% To know the answer and to take the quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 14 June 2023 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Twitter faced threats, says ex-CEO; Centre denies claim Twitter’s former chief executive officer (CEO) Jack Dorsey said the [Indian government had threatened to shut down the social media platform]( in the country unless it complied with its orders during the [farmers’ protest in 2020-21,]( a claim the Centre on Tuesday dismissed as an “outright lie.” In an interview with Breaking Points, a YouTube channel, Mr. Dorsey said, “India is a country that had many [requests of us around the farmers’ protests]( around particular journalists that were critical of the government… It manifested in ways such as ‘We’ll shut Twitter down in India’, which is a very large market for us, ‘We’re going to raid the homes of your employees’, which they did, and ‘We will shut down your offices if you don’t follow suit’ — and this is India, a democratic country.” He alleged that the [government demanded “contact information” tied to certain accounts]( in addition to shutting them down. However, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar termed the allegations an “outright lie.” “[No one went to jail nor was Twitter ‘shut down’]( Mr. Chandrasekhar said, adding that Twitter had continuously resisted Indian laws until July 2022, when it “finally complied”. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur also slammed the ex-CEO, and said, “Jack Dorsey awakens after years of slumber, wishing to conceal his dark deeds.” Mr. Dorsey quit as Twitter CEO in 2021 and Elon Musk purchased the platform in 2022. Meanwhile, reacting to Mr. Dorsey’s claim, the Congress on Tuesday said the [BJP government had adopted the “toolkit of dictatorship”]( that it borrowed from British imperialists. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge hit out at the government, saying that the BJP is “embarrassing” the country. In a Twitter post, he said the ruling party’s progenitor, the RSS, had worked for the British and against Indians during the freedom struggle. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also alleged that [Twitter had banned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s account]( under “pressure” from the government. Mr. Dorsey’s allegation, Ms. Shrinate said, had exposed the government. “The Prime Minister is afraid because crores have been spent to build his image and that gets demolished when truth comes out,” she added. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. 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