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After former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey backed Elon Musk’s controversial plan to reinstate former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, Junior IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar jumped into the debate today, saying platforming is “a violation of fundamental rights of users” and any platform must have “force of law behind it” for it to operate.
“Deplatforming is a big deal – Its a violation of fundamental human rights of users n must hv force of legislation behind it for any platform to exercise n must never ever be done arbitrarily,” he tweeted, tagging Mr Musk and Mr Dorsey.
After the violent January 6 takeover of the US Capitol, Mr Trump’s account, which had more than 88 million followers, was permanently banned in 2021 for his alleged involvement in inciting the violence. During the riot, 150 law enforcement officers were reportedly injured, and two people were killed.
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on May 10 at a Financial Times event that if his purchase of the social media giant goes through, he would lift the ban. Mr Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” recently agreed to buy the social media platform for $44 billion.
Mr. Musk called the ban a “morally bad decision,” a “mistake,” and “extremely foolish.” He went on to say that it “alienated a large portion of the country and did not actually result in Donald Trump not having a voice.” He claims that barring him only “amplified his voice among the right.”
Mr. Dorsey, he claimed, agreed with him on the ban.
Today, the former Twitter CEO clarified that “it was a business decision, it shouldn’t have been.” Referring to his comments immediately following the ban last year, he stated that “”Permanent bans on individuals are wrong in every way.” He referred to Twitter’s ban as a “failure.”
