Twitter's been removing the documentary at Modi's request: https://theintercept.com/2023/01/24/twitter-elon-musk-modi-i...
As big as India is, it keeps being considered as the ‘next billion’ revenue generators for tech companies - but not sure when that day will actually arrive.
Teslas aren’t for sale in India, not that many will be afford it (besides the few virtue signaling billionaires / millionaires who might buy it after acquiring their dream Ferrari or whatever). Nor does India contribute to the supply chain AFAIK.
Pretty sure Indians don’t contribute to significant % of ad or subscription revenue for Twitter or other tech companies either (compared to USA or Europe - outliers being websites like Quora) given the low purchasing power. I recall New York and London together making more $$$ in a day for Uber than the whole of India
So not sure why tech companies are afraid of taking on India, especially Musk. Or maybe just doing what the India govt wants instead of fighting is another way of signaling that they don’t care what happens in India anymore
I think the second approach is right even if the request were “innocuous”.
He's the one that made the incompatible promises that Twitter will be "free speech absolutist" but at the same time will follow the laws from your average corrupt and fascist government.
Er, is that what he claimed? All I've seen is:
> By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.
> I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
- https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519036983137509376
Which this is - for better or worse - in line with.
> ... Sorry to be a free speech absolutist
> Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Ultimately, the conception of free speech is rooted outside of legal standards and closely related to universal human rights.
They are following Indian censorship laws for Indian IP addresses.
Not sure if that's the hill they went to die on, but sure there's an argument they should try anyway. Google tried to resist the Chinese gov early on then shut down the entire service there when that became infeasible (which went well beyond taking down a couple links).
Twitter probably has a long existing framework in place with each region legal system and the degrees to which they will listen to it. And India isn't exactly a North Korean type dictatorship where companies would normally disregard their demands out-right.
Maybe this will bring attention to that issue. I'm happy people are holding Elon Musk to account on free speech, even when most people are just doing just to spite him.
Any country? Such as the Principality of Sealand? Or Liberland?
> Twitter even blocked Indian audiences from seeing two posts by actor John Cusack linking to the documentary. (They remain visible to American audiences.)
And links to the legal request on Lumen[0].
Here's tweets from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry[1] attempting to justify the block, and clarifying the directions:
> The directions to block content from @BBCWorld vicious propaganda were issued by Secretary, I&B, on Friday using the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021. Both @YouTube and @Twitter have complied with the directions.Governments in India.
> YT has been instructed to block the video if uploaded again. @Twitter has been directed to block tweets linking video on other platforms.
> Accordingly, @BBCWorld ’s vile propaganda was found to be undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India, and having the potential to adversely impact India's friendly relations with foreign countries as also public order within the country.
[0]: https://lumendatabase.org/file_uploads/files/5097820/005/097...
[1]: Senior Adviser, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, New Delhi.
"First I’ve heard. It is not possible for me to fix every aspect of Twitter worldwide overnight, while still running Tesla and SpaceX, among other things."
Wow, strong "I take no responsibility" vibes from this