The sensational revelations made by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that the Narendra Modi government threatened the social media company with a ban and raid of its employees in India if certain tweets about the farmers’ protest were not suppressed has caused a political storm.
The government has issued a categorical denial and its supporters have deployed the usual defence: alleging a “global conspiracy” against the government and questioning Dorsey’s intentions. However, the Twitter founder is an uninterested party and had no reason to lie. Therefore, his grave allegations merit our thoughtful engagement – for they expose how endangered our democracy is due to the Modi government’s misuse of its enforcement power to scuttle free speech and restrict the opposition’s ability to mobilise.
Free speech no more
Free speech is the lifeblood of a functioning democracy. It is the most sacred and central of rights that democracy offers to people. It allows the people to hold the government accountable, enhances their liberty and creates empowered citizens who are able to think and articulate freely and thus contribute to a richer public discourse. In fact, so essential and interlinked are free speech and democracy that the very first amendment of the US constitution protects free speech. The Indian constitution too enshrines and protects freedom of speech in Article 19.
However, what Dorsey has revealed – and what most of us already experienced or knew – is that the Modi government was arbitrarily, and without any justified public rationale, suppressing free speech. We are in an age where Twitter has become one of the foremost spaces for public discussion. For the government to suppress dissenting opinions on the platform is a scandalous violation of Article 19. It reveals a government that is growing tyrannical by the day and is restricting the ability of Indian citizens to freely and without fear exercise their right to free speech.
Also Read | Modi Govt Threatened to Shut Down Twitter, Raid Employees If Takedown Orders Aren’t Followed: Jack Dorsey
Blatant misuse of law enforcement machinery for partisan ends
What Dorsey’s revelations also expose is how the government is brazenly misusing its law enforcement power for petty political ends. They reveal a cynical government that creates and uses law – not to serve any public good, but to subvert public good (the accountability that arises from a free public discourse) and restrict people’s voice.
In so doing, the Modi government is reducing the legitimacy of the Indian state. Its reaction can be compared to a criminal gang that uses its coercive powers to blackmail people into silence. Is it not a sad day that India was the first country that came to the former Twitter CEO’s mind when he was asked about his experiences with governments that violated free speech? Surely, India, which the BJP claims is the “mother of democracy”, should not be known globally for its suppression of free speech.
Jack Dorsey during the Breaking Points interview. Photo: Video screengrab
Shrinking space for political mobilisation
The revelations also show the Modi government’s suppression of political freedom in India. It intimidated Twitter to disempower the farmers who were exercising their constitutionally enshrined rights for political mobilisation. This restricts the ability of the Indian public to freely decide their opinion as they are barred from listening to voices that are critical of the government. This distorts the level playing field that democratic opinion-making should ideally be.
For all the above reasons, the gravity of Dorsey’s revelations cannot be understated. Immediate corrective and punitive actions should be taken to arrest the dangers that such arbitrary actions pose to our democracy. The government must come out with a transparent affidavit listing the instances where it has intervened with social media platforms to delete or suppress politically sensitive content and detail the process that was followed for seeking such intervention.
A joint parliamentary committee needs to be constituted to examine the dangerous tendency to suppress free speech and political mobilisation. The committee must fix accountability for any instances of misuse of power. It should recommend measures to protect free speech on social media platforms and any legal changes required to curb government arbitrariness.
One option could be that like in the US, government injunctions to social media companies should first be approved by the lower judiciary. This may protect against the possibility of abuse ingrained in a purely executive-led process.
Finally, the Supreme Court must take cognisance of the revelations, because the government’s threats, as alleged by Dorsey, violate Article 19 of the constitution. The top court must list guidelines to protect free speech against such misuse of power.
An attack on free speech is an attack on democracy. All of us, our institutions and people, must stand together to repulse such an attack.
Praneet Pathak is a keen observer of Indian democracy.