‘Expectations of accountability, safety remain unchanged’: Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Musk-Twitter deal

As soon as it was confirmed that Elon Musk will be the new boss of Twitter, the government of India has recalled its “expectations of accountability” to the Tesla head.   

Clearing the government’s stand on accountability and safety, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that “expectations remain unchanged”.

“I wish Elon Musk the very best. Our goals and expectations of accountability and safety and trust of all intermediaries operating in India remain unchanged,” Minister of State for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said told TOI.  

As per a Statista report, India accounts for Twitter’s third-largest user base after the United States and Japan. As on January this year, the numbers of active Twitter users are 76.9 in the US, 58 million in Japan and 23.6 million in India.  

Earlier, Musk had said that he want to make Twitter more authentic to humans. “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential,” the billionaire said. 

When people quizzed about his free speech, he clarified, “By free speech, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask (the) government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.” 

Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also took to Twitter to remind the new boss about India's commitment to allowing free speech and blocking hate speech.

“On Elon Musk: Who owns which social media company is not our concern. What matters is what they do & how. If we find Twitter either interfering w/free speech in India, or the opposite (permitting hate speech &abuse) in our volatile environment, then the IT Committee should take action,” tweeted Tharoor.