Video: Former Twitter CEO says Modi Govt threatened to shut down platform in India

Twitter’s co-founder and former boss Jack Dorsey in an interview with YouTube channel Breaking Points talked about censorship requests he received from the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Jack said that Twitter received “many requests” from the Indian government to block accounts covering farmers’ protests. The former CEO of Twitter further said that the platform also received multiple requests to block those accounts that were critical of the government.
He has also said that the Indian government threatened to shut down Twitter in the country.

“India is a country that had many requests of us around the farmers protest, around particular journalists that were critical of the government, and it manifested in ways such as ‘we will shut Twitter down in India,’ which is a very large market for us; ‘we will raid the homes of your employees,’ which they did; ‘we will shut down your offices, if you don’t follow suit,’ and this is India, a democratic country,’” Dorsey said.

Former Twitter CEO @Jack Dorsey in an interview to @esaagar @krystalball on Breaking Points talks about Worlds Largest Democracy,
“India for example, India is one of the country which had many requests around farmers protests, around particular journalists which were critical of… pic.twitter.com/unF6dVmv0O

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) June 12, 2023

Dorsey said that Turkey also has similar requests like India. He noted that Twitter, which frequently engaged in legal battles with the government and prevailed, was also threatened with closure by the Turkish government.