Tech billionaire Elon Musk recently commented on Twitter India removing content related to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, released in January this year. Musk said in a recent interview with the BBC that he did not know the specifics about the content removal, but acknowledged that social media content regulations in India are “pretty strict”.
In January, the Government of India directs Twitter to block more than 50 tweets Linked to a BBC documentary titled “India: The Modi Question” on Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The documentary was not aired in India, but some YouTube channels uploaded the video.
“I’m not aware of this particular situation… don’t know what exactly happened with some of the material situation in India,” Musk said in an interview with BBC broadcast live on Twitter Space, as quoted by Reuters.
The documentary focused on Modi’s leadership as chief minister of Gujarat during the riots, in which at least 1,000 people were killed. During the interview, Musk also said that if following the laws meant avoiding the imprisonment of Twitter employees, Twitter would follow it.
On 21 January, several YouTube videos sharing the opening episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” were blocked based on instructions from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Furthermore, the government had directed Twitter to block over 50 tweets that contained links to these YouTube videos.
YouTube and Twitter complied with the government after the Information and Broadcasting Secretary reportedly issued emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021. The BBC, a national broadcaster in the UK, aired a two-part series that criticized PM Modi’s tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. During the 2002 Gujarat riots. The documentary sparked controversy in India and was later removed from certain platforms.