Elon Musk ignores criticism he helped India censor BBC documentary Modi

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Elon Musk has dismissed responsibility for the censorship of a BBC documentary examining Prime Minister Narendra Modis’ role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, after the social media giant received widespread criticism for complying with a directive from the Indian government.

Mr Musk, who previously positioned himself as a free speech absolutist, refused to take blame for the platforms’ actions in India. Feigning ignorance, he said it was not possible for him to fix all aspects of Twitter around the world overnight while running his other two companies Tesla and SpaceX.

Google-owned YouTube and Mr Musks Twitter have come under fire for complying with the Indian government’s request to block users from sharing the documentary. It first reports a UK intelligence report that held Mr Modi directly responsible for the Gujarat riots in 2002, where potentially thousands of Muslims were massacred, while he was the state’s chief minister. .

The government had ordered YouTube and Twitter to block content related to the BBC’s two-part series India: The Modi Question using emergency powers under the Government’s Information and Technology Act. country, said Kanchan Gupta, a government adviser, on his Twitter. manage last Saturday.

The two-part documentary was not shown in India by the BBC, but India’s federal government managed to block people from sharing clips on social media, including attempts to copy and share unofficial versions .

While YouTube spokesman Jack Malon told The Intercept that a version of the documentary had been taken down due to a copyright claim by the BBC, he declined to comment on the takedown requests. of the right-wing Indian government.

Twitter has also blocked Indian MP Derek O Brien’s posts. [Twitter], [Twitter India] deleted my tweet from the BBC documentary, it received hundreds of thousands of views, the lawmaker wrote, sharing screenshots of his deleted tweet.

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Indian authorities also rushed to halt unofficial screenings of the film held at colleges and universities, including cutting off electricity and internet services during an attempted viewing at Delhi’s premier institute of social sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Delhi police on Wednesday arrested several students from another top university, Jamia Millia Islamia, after the Left-wing Students Federation of India attempted to screen the documentary there.

A screening was to be organized by a group of students from Jamia which was not authorized by (the) administration of the university, Deputy Commissioner of Police Esha Pandey told the Indian Express. The administration informed the police that some students were creating a row in the streets, and a total of 13 students were arrested around 4 p.m. to ensure peace in the area.

The deployment of security forces outside campus has also increased, with police standing guard in riot gear at almost every gate of the university on Thursday. University administrators have warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those who attempt to hold screenings.

The censorship of the documentary has been criticized by opposition parties.

You can ban, you can repress the press, you can control institutions, but the truth is the truth. He has a bad habit of coming out, said Rahul Gandhi, a leading figure in the opposition Congress party.

Trinamool Congressman Mahua Moitra tweeted a link to the documentary saying, Good, bad or ugly, we decide. The government does not tell us what to watch.

The first part of the documentary, released last week by the BBC for its UK audiences, included a never-before-seen report from the UK Foreign Office that held Mr Modi directly responsible for the climate of impunity that allowed the Gujarat violence to occur. .

The second part of the documentary aired on Tuesday examines the record of the Narendra Modis government after his re-election in 2019, according to the description on the BBC website.

Riots in February 2002 killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, when Mr Modi was chief minister of Gujarat state.

The violence erupted a day after 59 people, many of them volunteers from Hindu organisations, died on the Sabarmati Express train when their coach was set on fire at Gujarats Godhra station.

The Foreign Office report was part of an investigation ordered by then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Mr Modi has denied accusations of any wrongdoing. Suspicions that Modi was quietly supporting the riots led the US, UK and EU to deny him a visa at the time, a decision that has since been reversed.

Last year, a special investigative team appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the role played by Mr Modi and other members of his party in the violence said it found no evidence to prosecute him.

India’s Foreign Ministry last week branded the documentary a propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative that lacks objectivity and criticized it for bias and a continued colonial mindset.

The BBC, in a statement, said the documentary had been rigorously researched and involved a wide range of voices and opinions.

We offered the Indian government the right to respond to questions raised in the series which it declined to respond to, the statement said.

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