New target: Centre versus Twitter- Is Big Tech finally standing up to authoritarian regimes?

A cooler, non-partisan relationship — rather than snugly, warm ties — with the powers that be can provide indemnity against a witch hunt

Representational image.:Shutterstock

The Editorial Board   |   TT  |   26.05.21 : Is Big Tech finally standing up to authoritarian regimes? The latest confrontation between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Delhi and Twitter has fuelled such a speculation. In a rather dubious directive, the Centre had ordered the popular social media platform to get rid of the label, ‘manipulated media’, that had been applied to some posts shared by senior functionaries of the party and the government. The instruction has been followed — quite predictably — by a raid on Twitter’s offices. Hearteningly, Twitter has stood its ground so far, refusing to yield to this naked aggression on the part of the government. Any media content — including videos, audio, visuals — that is deemed to have been fabricated is red-flagged as ‘manipulated media’ by Twitter. Such a censorious certification is issued only after the application of due process like technological verification as well as human review. In this particular instance, the BJP disseminated a ‘toolkit’ prepared by the Congress on Twitter, alleging that the intention of its principal political rival was to malign the Narendra Modi dispensation, prompting the Congress to retaliate by stating that the content shared by the BJP leaders is fabricated. It demanded corrective action against the mischief-mongers. The fact that Twitter issued such a label can only be attributed to serious anomalies in the BJP’s ‘repackaging’ of the toolkit.

The charge against Twitter — the Centre has described the labelling as “prejudged” and “prejudiced” — is all the more curious because the government’s directive does not exactly stand on firm legal ground. As a private entity, Twitter is entitled to apply its own standards to judge problematic content. Significantly, the Information Technology Act, while allowing the government to regulate content, does not empower it to demand the removal of labels. The legal deficiencies in the government’s arsenal are only one part of the problem. The cynical agenda against the company bares the BJP’s desperation to control a narrative that seems to be going out of control. The growing anger against the government for its repeated failures to manage a health crisis must be adding to the BJP’s paranoia. There is, however, a lesson in this for social media platforms too. A cooler, non-partisan relationship — rather than snugly, warm ties — with the powers that be can provide indemnity against a witch hunt.