Lawyer, activist Khaled Beydoun's Twitter account withheld in India 'in response to legal demand'
Lawyer, activist Khaled Beydoun's Twitter account withheld in India 'in response to legal demand'
Twitter has blocked dozens of accounts recently, including those of journalists and activists.
3 min read
Several accounts have been blocked by Twitter in the past few days [Getty]
The Twitter account of Khaled Beydoun, a law professor and activist prominent on social media, has been withheld in India "in response to a legal demand" since Tuesday, according to reports.
Beydoun took to Instagram on Saturday to criticise India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Hindu nationalism ideology it adheres to, often called Hindutva.
"As a constitutional law professor, free speech and fighting authoritarianism hit close to home on a number of fronts. If the BJP and Hindutva zealots think they can cancel me, they’re wrong, I’ll only get stronger," he wrote on Instagram.
Earlier on Tuesday, Beydoun tweeted that Twitter had shut down his account "because of Hindutva supremacists controlling the government".
"If @elonmusk really means what he says about "no censorship on Twitter," he’ll act," he added, referencing new Twitter owner Elon Musk’s claim that the site would be a platform for free speech.
Twitter just shut down my account in India 🇮🇳 because of Hindutva supremacists controlling the government
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) December 13, 2022
They’ve done so with @cjwerleman and others speaking out against Islamophobia in India.
If @elonmusk really means what he says about “no censorship on Twitter,” he’ll act
India's government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been repeatedly accused of fomenting an environment of hatred towards India's 200 million Muslims. Critics say the government seeks to turn India into a Hindu state, with little room for Muslims and other minorities.
Beydoun is a fierce critic of Modi and the BJP, and has often spoken out against the government for actively or tacitly supporting violence against Muslims.
He told The New Arab that Hindu nationalists encourage Indian Twitter users to report those who are criticising the BJP.
"[The] Hindtuva organization encourages users in India to complain about accounts like mine, which critique the Islamophobia in India and the BJP," he said.
"Certainly, it's an easy task to mobilise Hindtuva users on Twitter to message Twitter and lobby them to block my account, and that's what happened."
Beydoun claimed that the Indian government opposes all criticism, saying that "the anti-Muslim policies of Modi and the BJP incite citizens and organisations to come after the likes of voices like my own."
He also criticised Twitter, saying it has turned from a place of open ideas and dissent into one used by governments to silence their critics.
"This is the virtual world we live in today, instead of Twitter and social media being leveraged as a place where citizen journalists and activists can engage in dissent, it's devolved into a place where authoritarian governments and populist movements can crackdown and eliminate their most effective detractors," he added.
The suspension of accounts has been especially pronounced in India over the past few years, where Modi's government has repeatedly been accused of using its clout to restrict critical tweets or suspend Twitter accounts in India.
In 2021, Twitter took action against more than 500 accounts and reduced the visibility of certain hashtags that were linked to widespread farmers’ protests in India to comply with multiple orders from the government, after New Delhi threatened legal action against the platform.
Over the past few days, Twitter has made headlines around the world for restricting access to the accounts of several journalists for allegedly sharing personal information online.
These include the accounts of Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept, Steve Herman of Voice of America and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster.
Musk explained his decision in a Twitter Spaces group with one of the journalists, saying: "You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That's it," before exiting the group.
The accounts have reportedly been reinstated since.
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