Jack Dorsey on Farmers' Protest: Indian Govt said, 'We will shut down Twitter, raid the homes of your employees if…'

Twitter received numerous requests from India to block accounts related to Farmers' Protests and those expressing criticism towards the government, according to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Dorsey mentioned that India had put pressure on Twitter, including threats of shutting down the platform in the country, conducting raids on employees' homes, and closing down Twitter offices, all because of their refusal to comply. Dorsey emphasised that these actions were taking place in a democratic country like India.

“‘We would 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,” said Dorsey on ‘pressure’ from India.

Dorsey’s comments came as he was asked to give some examples of pressure from foreign governments so that the audience had an idea how it felt when some of the “most powerful people” on the planet approached him and demanded things from the company.

Turkey, according to Dorsey, behaved in a similar way like India. The Turkish government, too, threatened to shut down Twitter, which often got engaged in court battles with the government and won, he added.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a significant announcement in November 2021 by repealing three contentious farm laws. This decision came after a year-long protest by thousands of farmers who had been camping at Delhi border points since November 2020. 

Acknowledging the failure to convince the farmers, Modi appealed to them to end their protest. Subsequently, during the winter session of Parliament, the three laws were withdrawn.

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Dorsey's claim, made during an interview with YouTube channel Breaking Points, has attracted attention. Although the government has not yet responded to Dorsey's allegation, a number of Twitter accounts belonging to the Opposition took to Twitter to share a clip of his statement and criticised the Modi government.