On Wednesday, Elon Musk said he didn’t know “what exactly happened” when Twitter removed content from a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year, adding that India had “quite strict” social media content rules.
India banned social media dissemination of a BBC documentary about Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots in January.
Kanchan Gupta, a government adviser, said the government ordered Twitter to remove over 50 tweets linked to the documentary’s video.
Gupta claimed several YouTube channels had posted the BBC program, which was not shown in India.
“I am not aware of this particular scenario… don’t know what exactly occurred with some material situation in India,” Musk responded in a BBC interview carried live on Twitter Spaces when asked if the site removed information at the Indian government’s request.
“India’s social media laws are really severe, and we can’t go beyond them,” he stated.
The documentary examined Modi’s role as Gujarat’s chief minister during the 2002 riots that killed at least 1,000 Muslims.
Advocates estimate the toll to double that.
Musk added, “Whether our workers go to prison or we comply with the laws, we will comply.”
Reuters reported that India’s regulatory examination of Twitter, Facebook’s (META.O) WhatsApp, and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) had damaged the business environment in a major growing region, leading some businesses to reconsider expansion plans.
Indian authorities have demanded Twitter remove accounts supporting an independent Sikh state, postings believed to have propagated disinformation about farmer demonstrations, and tweets critical of the COVID-19 virus.
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