On January 24, Twitter took down links to a two-part BBC documentary titled ‘India: the Modi Question’, at the behest of the Indian government. The documentary presented the role Narendra Modi – the then chief minister of Gujrat – played in the 2002 massacres in his state. About 2000 people, mostly Muslims, were reportedly killed
Coming from the BBC, it was a well-researched production. YouTube also quickly followed suit, making it difficult – though not impossible – to access the films. The BBC documentary tracks “Mr Modi’s career-long efforts to demonize India’s 200 million-odd Muslim” minority, reported ‘The Economist’.
It appears that Elon Musk’s free speech absolutism only goes so far. The BBC is not exactly known to be some extremist fringe outfit, and yet it was effectively silenced with cooperation from US social media sites. Just a few days later, BBC offices in India were raided by Indian tax authorities, pursuing alleged tax law violations – an often-used tactic to silence unwanted opposition. “After silencing critics at home, Narendra Modi goes after foreign media”, read the headline from a recent editorial, also in ‘The Economist’. Read more…