Faizah Gilani
Recent events in America have stunned the world. The scenes of pro Donald Trump supporters storming Capitol Hill on the 6th of January in order to overturn his election defeat, were unbelievable. It was done at a time when counting of electoral college votes were taking place, to confirm Joe Biden’s victory as the next president of the United States. An aggressive mob stormed the building and not only was the process disrupted, violence ensued, resulting in the death of 5 people.
Today America is a deeply divided nation, and things have only gotten worse under the presidency of Donald Trump. The threat of white supremacy is on the rise and domestic terrorists pose a real threat to America. Following the insurrection, Trump came under intense fire and worldwide condemnation for encouraging the rioters who stormed the capitol.
Trump’s presidency has emboldened white supremacists as well as those who believe it is justified to use violence and aggression to push their narrative forward. Donald Trump’s inflammatory and provocative statements contributed to the events on and leading up to the insurrection. Had he accepted the election results with grace, things would have not escalated. Instead, he used his Twitter account to peddle lies about election fraud, misleading his base to believe that he had been wronged.
The actions of January the 6th led to Donald Trump’s permanent ban from twitter. Before that his account had been suspended for 12 hours after he shared a video with false claims about election fraud, while also praising the rioters. In a statement, twitter said, “after close review of recent tweets from @therealDonaldTrump account and the context around them – specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off twitter – we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
The social media platform was under extreme pressure to act following the attack on Capitol Hill and for Trump’s role in glorifying the actions of the mob. Twitter has been known to bend its own rules to accommodate world leaders, and that includes Trump. For this reason, twitter has been strongly criticised. The social media site has allowed the American president to use its platform to spread disinformation, personal attacks, hate speech and lie to his supporters.
Trump’s failure to get re-elected was perhaps one of the main factors contributing to twitter’s decision to impose the ban. Trump’s defeat made it much easier for the tech giant to take a decision. Had Trump won, it might have been a different story.
But twitter cannot absolve itself of any responsibility by simply banning Trump from twitter. This should have been done much earlier, but instead, it continues to allow other countries to abuse and misuse the social media platform, just like Trump. Here we can draw similarities with India.
Similar to Trump and his base, Narendra Modi supporters in India, and Hindutva ideologists in particular, are using social media to spread disinformation and hate speech. Twitter is giving a free pass to Indian accounts spreading hatred against minorities, Muslims in particular, and Pakistan.
The ruling party BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) members and India’s right-wing media continue to spew venom on the social media site, which goes unnoticed in the eyes of the tech giant. On the other hand, activists and accounts dedicated to highlighting the situation within Indian occupied Kashmir and Palestine have often had their accounts either restricted or suspended.
Twitter’s continuous bias towards India is very obvious. Its CEO, Jack Dorsey, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi back in November 2018, on his maiden visit to India. The two discussed the importance of global conversations on social media platforms. Later, Dorsey thanked the Indian Prime Minister for his ideas for Twitter. It is undeniable that India is a huge lucrative market for big tech companies to invest in, and Twitter is no different. But it also exposes Twitter’s double standards and unethical approach.
Twitter has vowed to tackle disinformation in the past. Yet it gives India a green signal despite the country becoming a hub for fake news. The recent Indian chronicles exposed by the NGO EU DisinfoLab gave us a better understanding of how India’s disinformation network is operated, and just how well organised it is. But despite a detailed investigation, Twitter does not appear to have done anything note worthy in order to tackle disinformation and fake news from that part of the world.
But this hardly comes as a surprise. Turning a blind eye becomes much easier where big money is involved, and Twitter does not want to risk losing its Indian users. The major social media platform seems disinterested in tackling India’s disinformation, even though the Indian chronicles exposed the extent to which the network operates to discredit Pakistan on all platforms.
This is why Twitter should not be receiving a pat on the back for Donald Trump’s permanent suspension. Had Twitter been more responsible and acted faster, things may not have gotten out of hand. The mob that attacked Congress did so believing that election was stolen from Trump, and they believed the lies fed to them on social media.
People are believing what they read and if they act upon it, then tech companies are allowing that to happen. Similarly to America, India has also witnessed a growing mob mentality fuelled by fake news that pose a serious threat to its democracy. Videos of public lynchings over beef, violence towards minority groups and the promotion of an Islamophobic theory dubbed “love jihad,” where Muslims are targeted for inter-faith relationships, have been widely circulated on social media platforms.
A classic example of fake news on social media has been during these difficult times of Covid-19, where the spread of the virus has been attributed to the Muslim community in India. This has led to mistrust among communities and resentment towards the Muslim minority.
Like America, India too has transitioned towards a more intolerant society, where fake news is being peddled to fit a certain narrative. White supremacist ideas are enjoying space on social media platforms more freely, and the same can be said for the Hindutva ideology as well. If Twitter is genuinely concerned about tackling disinformation and fake news, it has to review its policy and how it operates.
There is a great deal of responsibility shouldered on Twitter, which it cannot casually dismiss. Social media has a vital role to play when it comes to political discourse and it should be encouraged. However, discourse has to be healthy and contribute positively within society. Twitter can no longer allow racists, fascists, and xenophobes to run rampant on its platform, all in the name of free speech.
It is time for Twitter to clean up its site across the board, without being selective or biased. It has to look beyond monetary gains and think about the greater good. Suspension should not end with Donald Trump. This should extend to others that misuse the social media site in order to incite violence, stoke fear and spread hatred.
Therefore, bans should also apply to accounts belonging to far-right supporters, Nazi sympathisers, BJP ministers and Hindutva ideologists that use Twitter to incite violence towards minority groups and create divisions among people. If Twitter cannot do so, then it must be held to account for being complicit.
The writer has studied History and Politics at Queen Mary, University of London. And Near and Middle East studies at SOAS, University of London.
