Twitter’s managing director in India, Manish Maheshwari, was asked last week to appear before police as part of a legal notice over the spread of posts linked to the assault of a Muslim man in Ghaziabad that sent ripples across India. Maheshwari today said he is available via video call.
Claims that the Muslim man was beaten up for refusing to chant a Hindu slogan spread on the platform last week, including by well-known journalists and fact checkers, some of whom have been charged by police alongside Twitter for stoking communal tensions. Police say the attack was reportedly over a dispute about amulets; the man’s family says it was an attack motivated by religious hatred. Indian law enforcement agencies also asked Twitter to restrict 50 tweets that contained videos and images in connection with the attack in Ghaziabad, according to the Lumen database that tracks online removal requests.
Dozens of users are applauding the Indian government’s stance against the platform. Some, including one writer in Times Now, are making outlandish comparisons to the East India Company, which kickstarted nearly 400 years of British colonialism in India. Others are calling for India to ban the platform entirely, asking leaders to emulate “Nigeria & Uganda” after the countries banned and suspended Twitter earlier this year in moves that were roundly criticized by rights groups.
Last week, India’s IT minister said Twitter was choosing a “path of deliberate defiance” after it did not meet the deadline to meet the country’s new IT rules. Critics say India’s Hindu nationalist government has repeatedly tried to stifle criticism and free speech, and the new IT rules were brought forward earlier this year following mass protests, largely by Sikh farmers against changes to India’s farm laws. Multiple rights groups have said the regulations could stifle user privacy, while the UN said the rules do not conform with international human rights norms.
Twitter is not yet in danger of losing its “intermediary” status, as was inaccurately reported by several prominent Indian news outlets last week. But Twitter’s failure to meet these regulations could open the door for it to be taken to court for any content posted on the platform. According to the Asian News Agency, Twitter is the only major platform that has not complied with the new rules; WhatsApp challenged the regulations in court last month. — Ali Abbas Ahmadi
