US President Donald Trump lost elections in 2020 and 2021 snatched away his favourite social media account — Twitter! On Saturday morning, the micro-blogging site took down Trump’s official Twitter account. After handful of hours, Trump team’s account was also suspended by the social media giant. The amazing selection came up following the shocking violence at the Capitol Hill. While several are lauding the most significant takedown the world-wide-web has ever noticed, there are some who really feel that the ‘big tech’ is working against ‘Freedom of Expression.’
In India, quite a few leaders have stated that Twitter’s selection is unilateral and warning of total censorship. Among these who have voiced their views against Twitter is Tejasvi Surya, BJP’s young lawmaker from Karnataka. Surya stated that this type of ‘unregulated company’ can do something and should really sound alarm bells in democracies across the globe. In his post, Surya also tagged Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
This will have to be wake up get in touch with for all who do not however have an understanding of threat to our democracies by unregulated large tech firms.
If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to any individual.
Sooner India evaluations intermediaries regulations, improved for our democracy.@GoI_MeitY https://t.co/SWzaBfycJ8
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) January 9, 2021
The Karnataka MP identified an unlikely supporter from the Congress. Former minister Milind Deora also stated that the government will have to step in and regulate such large tech firms.
Twitter, Facebook & WhatsApp can no longer be trusted when politicians across the spectrum are permitted to peddle hate speech, fake news & violence. Free rein is not the very same as freedom of speech.
Big tech’s self-regulation is a sham. Governments will have to step in — NOW.
— Milind Deora | मिलिंद देवरा ☮️ (@milinddeora) January 9, 2021
Other BJP leaders such as Amit Malviya have also stated that ‘deplatforming’ Trump shows how ‘dangerous’ the future will be. The Right vs Left war is not restricted to India Twitter. In the US also, persons are debating more than the ban. Many really feel that the ban will not cease persons from acting the way they want. It will only imply that there will be lesser posts about such issues.
Deplatforming Donald Trump, a sitting US president, sets a risky precedent.
It has much less to do with his views and more to do with intolerance for a differing point. Ironically, these who claim to champion absolutely free speech are celebrating.
Big tech firms are now the new oligarchs.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 9, 2021
While Twitter may perhaps have earned some brownie points in the US for upholding the liberal values, several netizens are also questioning how the large social media firms will react in India. It should really be noted that a Wall Street Journal report had stated that the Facebook had refused to act against the Bajrang Dal as it feared physical attack on its employees.
There has been a expanding concern more than the monopoly or absolute manage of the world-wide-web by some handful large tech firms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and so on. In truth, through a federal hearing, some US officials had stated that the Facebook requirements to be broken up in order to produce more democratic atmosphere for the netizens.