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The rule of the land is supreme, not your internal policy – Government rebukes Twitter

The patriotic citizens of our country expect the Government to severely penalise such establishments so that they do not dare to get engaged in any anti-national or for that matter any anti-Hindu activity

New Delhi – The Government’s message to Twitter was loud and clear – The rule of the land is supreme and not the internal policy of any establishment. Twitter India’s Public Policy Manager Shagufta Kamran and Legal Counsel Ayushi Kapoor deposed before the parliamentary panel over issues such as misuse of the platform and lack of steps taken to safeguard the rights of the citizens. The panel, chaired by the Congress MP Dr. Shashi Tharoor, asked around 40 questions to these officials. Besides Dr. Tharoor, the panel comprised BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore,Tejasvi Surya and Dr. Subhash Chandra.

  1. At the beginning of the deposition, these officials were asked about the basis of their appointments and the associated designations to which they replied, ‘We completely respect the local laws in the respective countries we operate in; however, we follow our own policies for the greater good.’ Upon receiving such a dubious response, the panel asked a counter question, ‘The rule of the land is always supreme and not your internal policy. Why should you not be fined for not abiding by the law ?’
  2. During the deposition the panel also asked, ‘In Europe, you have already been fined 4.5 Lakh Euros (approx. Rs. 4 Crores) while in Nigeria, there is an outright ban imposed on your platform. This simply proves that you are not as ethical as you pretend to be. Why should you not be fined for flouting the law ?’ The officers simply escaped such strict scrutiny by offering to provide a written response later.
  3. When a point-blank question was asked about the expected appointment of Grievance Redressal Officer, these officers said, ‘We are in the process of making arrangements so as to be fully compliant with the rules’.
  4. These officers simply offered to provide a written responses to some of the other questions asked.
  5. Subsequently the spokesperson for Twitter India said, ‘We will cooperate with the panel as per the global policy which is based on principles of transparency, freedom of expression and confidentiality. Moreover, we are fully committed to cooperate with the Indian Government’.

Twitter’s silence on a key question

On the occasion, when the hypocrisy of Twitter was called out by the panel, it preferred to remain silent. Earlier, Twitter had proactively removed some tweets related to the Capitol Hill protest (an incident in which the angry supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Hill and clashed with the Police) as being unlawful. However, the same Twitter was quick to declare the tweets supporting the violence at the Red Fort (the illegal formers’ protest) as ‘Freedom of expression’.

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