Tweets matter: BJP and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on posts against new farm laws

New Delhi: The BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya Tuesday came down heavily on former Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey, saying the social media company was in violation of laws between 2020-2022 when he was at the helm of affairs.

Malviya's counteroffensive through a Twitter post after Dorsey claimed the Indian government threatened raids on employees and shutdown if the company did not take down posts critical of the government during the farmers protest against three new laws in 2020 and 2021.

Malviya said that Under Dorsey the firm 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) "

He said 'Twitter Files', released after Elon Musk got rid of "toxic people" in Twitter, is a testimony.

"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," said Malviya. He said 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. They were also allowing their platform to be used by foreign forces inimical to India's interest, on several occasions, which posed grave threat to India's national security and well being," said Malviya.

He also slammed Opposition Congress saying they were "excited" by an "invertebrate liar's misplaced assertions". "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?" he said.

Party spokesperson Sambit Patra also alleged that Twitter 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," 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.

Dorsey 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".

Inputs from PTI