Our Expectations Remain Unchanged: Govt On Elon Musk's Twitter Buyout

The Government of India has reminded Elon Musk, of the country's commitment to accountability, safety, and trust rules that have been established for social media companies, after the Tesla co-founder clinched a USD 44 billion deal to buy out the American social media company, Twitter. 

“I wish Elon Musk the very best. Our goals and expectations of accountability and safety and trust of all intermediaries operating in India remain unchanged.", Minister of State for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a statement to the media.

India forms Twitter's third-largest user base after the United States and Japan, with 23.6 million active users on the platform, according to Statistica.

Congress Member Of Parliament and Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology, Shashi Tharoor, also tweeted to Elon Musk as a reminder of India's commitment to allowing free speech and blocking hate speech.

“On Elon Musk: Who owns which social media company is not our concern. What matters is what they do & how. If we find Twitter either interfering w/free speech in India, or the opposite (permitting hate speech &abuse) in our volatile environment, then the IT Committee should take action," Shashi Tharoor tweeted.

The American tycoon has made a series of tweets that look to define his idea of 'free speech'. "Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated", Musk said.

These developments have prompted many to question whether a privately-held Twitter under Elon Musk's idea of 'freedom of speech' will function ethically. In response to this backlash, Musk tweeted his stance on 'free speech' and 'censorship'.

"By free speech, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask (the) government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.", he tweeted.