Twitter has censored links to a BBC documentary critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the request of the Indian government, despite CEO Elon Musk’s previously stated commitments to free speech on the platform.
The BBC documentary India: The Modi Question examined the role of the prime minister in violent 2002 riots that saw over 1,000 deaths, mostly Muslims. The documentary highlighted memos and reports criticizing Modi, including one that said the riots had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing.” The documentary was not aired in India, but has nonetheless caused a furor. India ordered the documentary to be blocked in the country using emergency legislation, and The Intercept reported that takedown requests were submitted to Twitter.
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Twitter acted on those requests, The Intercept reported on Tuesday night, as the takedown requests coincided with reports from Indian Twitter users that links to the documentary were being blocked. Actor John Cusack, who shared a link to the documentary, was caught in the geo-block and told The Intercept, “I received two notices that I’m banned in India.” The blocks apparently began days ago, with takedown requests dated January 20.
“CENSORSHIP,” Indian politician Derek O’Brien tweeted last week. “@Twitter @TwitterIndia HAS TAKEN DOWN MY TWEET of the #BBCDocumentary, it received lakhs of views.” He posted a screenshot that shows a notification saying that the tweet was banned due to a legal request from the Indian government.
Musk framed his takeover of Twitter last year as being a win for free speech, and he pledged to only moderate speech on the platform if it went outside the bounds of the law. His actions since then have been a series of backslides. For example, he banned accounts using public information to track his and other powerful peoples’ flights after saying he would never do so, in order to preserve freedom of speech.
Musk once called himself a “free speech absolutist” and said that “some governments” were demanding that satellite internet company Starlink block Russian news sources, but that it would not unless “at gunpoint.”
Like with every other tech company, doing business in countries with leaders who have authoritarian tendencies means following their laws, which is what happened in the case of the BBC documentary. Twitter’s closeness with authoritarians has been called into question since the Musk takeover; Saudi Arabia remains the firm’s second-largest shareholder, for example.
Musk has not commented on the censorship, instead tweeting, “Be all you can be” using bee emojis, and commenting on birth rates.
