When rows ruled the roost at micro blogging site Twitter

New Delhi

It's new ownership and new rules for Twitter now. The micro blogging site changed the way the new tech-savvy world would communicate.

Controversies ruled the roost in the recent past and there have been a few glaring instances in India and also in the northeast region.

On Feb 11, 2019, in a major decision seeking to 'keep a track on the functioning of the popular micro blogging site Twitter', the company executive was disallowed from making an appearance before the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT.

"Twitter has sought to insult the Indian parliament by deputing a junior executive and so she was not allowed to depose before the panel," a senior lawmaker had told this journalist then.

In Assam when FCRA new norms were applied affecting foreign funding of some NGOS, a social worker based in Guwahati said, "The right to reject an application on any ground gives the government an advantage". 

The social worker, however, admitted that there have been some NGOs who have 'misused' the funds. 

"There are organisations meant to work for mental patients or in leprosy colonies. But when their activists took part in anti-CAA protests in 2020 January, we knew some adverse reports would be prepared. You call it vindictive, that's one view. But officials say funds for leprosy people were used to make anti-India slogans and banners," the social worked explained. 

After Twitter introduced a new system where it "edited" the content and also decided who will be followers and so on, 

the BJP leaders alleged that Twitter has started functioning like a media house.

"It is no longer a technology enabler platform and hence rules applied to media houses especially in the context of 

FDI may apply to them," a committee member had said.  

In fact Twitter in earlier avatars had fought with the US Congress and also legislature bodies of Singapore and 

European Union. Donald Trump was banned from the platform which new owner Musk had recently said

will be reviewed.

In India, Delhi police even conducted raids. 

BJP's Guru Prakash had reacted to Congress allegation and said that it seems the grand old party has found an 'ally' in 

Twitter in its long drawn battle against the Modi government. 

Congress leader Salman Khurshid also commented saying Delhi cops visiting the micro blogging platform's 

Gurugram and Delhi offices was like 'browbeating' the site.

“And bhakts are trending #BanTwitterInIndia on Twitter. Didn’t they say they were moving to Koo? They are still here?”

tweeted Congress national convener Ruchira Chaturvedi.

Whether Twitter did anything by motive may not be 'exposed' ever but English media and social platforms

in 2019 gave a strong indication that Modi was losing the polls. The same illusion persisted during the 2022

Uttar Pradesh polls. 

Now under Elon Musk how would Twitter turn remains to be seen. 

Among others in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been using the platform religiously.

Modi has been using IT platforms Twitter and Facebook effectively even as the Gujarat Chief Minister.

In fact, he had in 2015 'disclosed' the breaking news about the then US President Barack Obama's arrival to

India for Jan 26, Republic Day parade, through Twitter.

In Nagaland context in January 2022 eyebrows were raised when Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio changed his Twitter profile cover snap and replaced a snap of Modi and himself.

Rio instead put the snap of Mt Saramati in Kiphire district on his Twitter cover image.

ends   

Twitter -- onetime 'sickularly' caged bird .... on a new flight.....new adventurism amid uncertainty

Top shots have been sacked !! Elon Musk says there will be job cuts!

But he has also tried to calm fears among employees that major layoffs are coming and assured advertisers that his past criticism of Twitter's content moderation rules would not harm its appeal. 

Blogger 

“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk said in an open letter to advertisers on Thursday, October 27.  

Musk has not offered details on how he will achieve some of his targets like not allowing Twitter turn into an echo chamber of hatred. 

He has said he plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter's approximately 7,500 employees fretting about their future. 

He also said on Thursday he did not buy Twitter to make more money but “to try to help humanity, whom I love”.

Musk terminated Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.

Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, the sources added.

Before closing the $44-billion acquisition, and never afraid to indulge in theatrics, Musk walked into Twitter's headquarters on Wednesday with a big grin and carrying a porcelain sink, subsequently tweeting “let that sink in.” He changed his description in his Twitter profile to “Chief Twit.” 

Reports say Musk may need to sell another $5 to $10 billion in Tesla stock to finance the deal, adding to the roughly $30 billion he’s already sold this year, and shares of Tesla are down more than 40% since April 4. 

"We estimate Musk to be worth $221.5 billion, making him the wealthiest person on the planet by $62 billion. Musk’s fortune has tumbled more than $100 billion this year as Tesla’s stock crashes from its pandemic peak." 

-- Forbes Valuation