Twitter Files 5: Bari Weiss has a history of anti-India bias, reference to PM Modi patently wrong

New Delhi: ‘Why ban Donald Trump when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not banned from Twitter?’ This question posed by Bari Weiss, in the fifth edition of Twitter’s self-expose — ‘Twitter Files’ — has landed the microblogging site in a soup.

Have new biases taken over Twitter’s old one’s or the old biases just have new faces, is what a section of the twitterati is thinking as the question raised several more on Twitter itself, as also on the author of the expose.

“In early February 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government threatened to arrest Twitter employees in India, and to incarcerate them for up to seven years after they restored hundreds of accounts that had been critical of him. Twitter did not ban Modi,” Weiss wrote in the 24th tweet of the 30-strong thread of Twitter Files 5.

Weiss’ has a history of anti-India bias

When it comes to India, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between Bari Weiss and Vijaya Gadde.

In a tweet from March 1, 2020, Weiss wrote: “About to go live with the great @MaajidNawaz on @LBC who is currently (and righteously!) tearing apart callers defending Modi’s anti-Muslim policies.”

The LBC stands for Leading Britain’s Conversation, a talk radio platform.

About to go live with the great @MaajidNawaz on @LBC who is currently (and righteously!) tearing apart callers defending Modi’s anti-Muslim policies. pic.twitter.com/rKSV5y0h9y

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) March 1, 2020

‘Fake News’

While Twitter fumed over the tweet, sources said the it was unwarranted as was wrong at so many levels.

“This refers to the time when the farmers were protesting against the three farm laws and the government sent a legal request for banning or blocking such handles which intelligence agencies had flagged as belonging to Khalistani and jihadi elements operating from abroad and such as those backed by Pakistan to foment trouble in the country. The government acted well within its legal rights and Twitter is bound to follow the law of the land,” the source said.

Weiss’ claim that there was a threat that Twitter employees would be arrested and incarcerated is patently false.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on January 30 had ordered Twitter to ban around 250 accounts and tweets that were tweeting ‘fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets’ with the fake and false hashtag that PM Modi was planning a ‘genocide’ of farmers in India

This blocking was done at the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs and law enforcement agencies.

However, these accounts were restored.

Thereafter, the government served a notice to Twitter for complying with its order and against the reinstatement of accounts despite the IT Ministry directive and warning about consequences that would befall Twitter in case “of non-compliance of directions issued under section 69A of the (IT) Act”.

In February again the Centre asked Twitter to remove nearly 1,200 accounts related to the farm protests as it suspected that these accounts were linked to Khalistan sympathisers or Pakistan-based elements. Moreover, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had also ‘liked’ some tweets supporting the farmers’ protests, which further, and rightly so, had raised questions over the platform’s neutrality.

BJP’s Suresh Nakhua slammed Weiss’ claims as ‘fake news’.

This is #FakeNews

GoI led by @PMOIndia @NarendraModi ji said that all have to follow the law of the land & any non compliance will lead to loss of exemption from liability as intermediary status under IT act. There were no arrest threats.

cc @Rajeev_GoI @GoI_MeitY @MIB_India https://t.co/MIlaR9Made

— Suresh Nakhua (सुरेश नाखुआ)