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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
Health
Joe Wallen

Why India’s Narendra Modi could be Elon Musk’s biggest test

Narendra Modi and Elon Musk - PHILIP DAVALI/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images | REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Narendra Modi and Elon Musk - PHILIP DAVALI/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images | REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Jignesh Mevani had only tweeted his criticism of India’s prime minister a couple of days earlier, when the police turned up to arrest him. Officers said the opposition politician stood accused of disturbing “public tranquillity and peace”. His real crime, his supporters say, was that he used the social media platform to insult Narendra Modi in the world’s largest and increasingly authoritarian democracy.

An apparently fearless campaigner for the country’s most marginalised, Mevani has not shied away from taking on some of the subcontinent’s most powerful politicians.

In his tweet, he had accused the Hindu right-wing nationalist Modi of fomenting communal violence and idolising Nathuram Godse, the assassin of India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.

Fringes of India’s right-wing revere Godse for killing the man they blame for the partition of India and Pakistan. Modi has distanced himself from such comments, but his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is accused of stoking an increasingly ugly nationalistic climate, leading to attacks on the country’s Muslims.

As the police swung into action to arrest Mevani, so did Modi’s cyber enforcers. His government has introduced draconian online expression laws making it illegal to post anything that threatens the sovereignty, integrity, morality and decency of India, or risks causing public disorder or incites offence. These laws are seen as a pretext to silence opposition politicians, journalists and activists.

There were protests after Jignesh Mevani’s arrest which resulted in clashes with police - SAM PANTHAKY / AFP
There were protests after Jignesh Mevani’s arrest which resulted in clashes with police - SAM PANTHAKY / AFP

Government lawyers fired off demands to the Silicon Valley tech giant insisting that Twitter take the insult down. Twitter duly complied.

And this kind of quick crackdown by Twitter will still be expected in future whatever Elon Musk may say about his plans for more freedom of speech on the platform, Delhi says.

Musk may be a self-avowed free speech absolutist who has vowed to increase freedom of expression, but Delhi says his platform will abide by Indian laws – or else.

“I think the Indian government has been very clear,” Krishna Saagar Rao, one of the BJP’s chief spokesmen told The Telegraph.

“If you don’t follow the guidelines and regulations then your operations in India will be stopped. I don’t think there will be any concessions for Elon Musk. If he doesn’t play by our book then the government will take due action and it could even lead to a shutting down of his [Twitter’s] operations. If they don’t comply, they will have to face the music.”

The world’s richest man may have paused his $44bn (£35bn) takeover bid for Twitter, awaiting further information on the company’s quarterly estimates of its fake accounts, but if it goes ahead he has promised a brave new world of unbowed expression. He has made clear his disdain for “woke” orthodoxy and said Donald Trump should be allowed back on the platform.

Yet while his plans have exercised legislators in America and Europe, it is likely that some of his toughest fights will have nothing to do with the West.

Campaigners say the truest and perhaps most difficult tests of his avowed principles of free speech will be how he deals with authoritarian governments in the burgeoning markets of Asia.

The platform has millions of users in Asia, including in countries where crackdowns on newspapers and television have made the app a last bastion of unruly debate and dissent.

India has some 23 million Twitter users, while there are 16 million in Indonesia, nine million in the Philippines and some three million in Pakistan.

Just as in the UK or America, in these countries, the platform is home to much of the political discourse while suffering all the familiar problems of disinformation, trolling, incitement and wholesale manipulation. This means that whatever free-speech policy Musk decides will have huge effects on politics for some of the world’s most populous nations.

“It’s a phenomenal set of issues to tackle,” explains Kian Vesteinsson at the US-based political freedom think tank Freedom House.

“Musk’s takeover of Twitter comes as governments around the world are trying to regulate online speech and dissent that they don’t like and India’s ruling BJP is an absolute example of this.

“India has the third largest user base and India’s new IT rules provide its government with the legal tools to suppress freedom of speech among journalists, opposition politicians and activists.

“Therefore, Musk’s approach in India could have huge ramifications for how Indians are able to speak freely, organise themselves and mobilise.”

Twitter’s own figures show that India each year issues thousands of legal demands to either learn the identity of users or get content removed. The platform received 6,000 information requests and nearly 10,000 legal demands to take down content during 2020.

India is not alone in cracking down. Pakistan has also alarmed freedom-of-speech campaigners with laws targeting content that threatens the “glory of Islam, security of Pakistan, public order, decency and morality, and integrity or defence of Pakistan”. Pakistan’s authorities have also made thousands of requests to Twitter to get content taken down or suspend accounts, making more than 600 in the first half of 2021 alone. Twitter has put up resistance and does not comply with all requests, but such reluctance has only brought greater scrutiny for the authorities.

In both countries, the laws and the legal demands are viewed as a pretext to silence criticism.

Such policies may seem anathema to Musk’s free-speech sensibilities. But campaigners worry Musk has recently made contradictory comments which cast doubt on how much he will stand up to such authoritarians.

In late April, he appeared to suggest local laws should decide the line on freedom of speech after all.

“I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law,” he said. “If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”

Twitter’s shares dropped by 10 per cent after Musk tweeted that he wanted more details on the number of users that are real - REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Twitter’s shares dropped by 10 per cent after Musk tweeted that he wanted more details on the number of users that are real - REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Nighat Dad, a Pakistani lawyer who runs the Digital Rights Foundation campaign group, says she is worried. “Not all local laws are good laws. If you have the limited perspective of US or EU, you really need to keep in mind that there are governments like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or even India which sort of calls itself a co-called democracy when it’s actually not any more. They have been regulating this space in the last few years very rapidly.”

Yet at the same time, if Twitter ignores requests from countries like India or Pakistan, it may make them more likely to resort to their own legislation and try to censor or block the platforms directly.

Dad said: “I think it will be a challenge for Twitter to see how to deal with the democratic and non-democratic governments around the world. They really need to find a middle way to keep the platform safe, but also a platform that champions free speech.

“If they won’t look into this solution properly, the governments might end up blocking the platform.”

Mevani was released on bail after 10 days, but retains the unwelcome distinction of being the first Indian politician to have been arrested for a tweet.

Meanwhile Modi’s BJP are adamant that the multi-billionaire maverick will abide by their laws, however much he might burnish his freedom-of-speech credentials.

“The Indian government’s stand towards Twitter remains the same,” says Rao. “The laws of the land have to be respected and I don’t think there will be any amends to these platforms. Twitter is no exception.”

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