American billionaire Elon Musk bought social media giant Twitter in November 2022. You already know that. You also know he promised to bring transparency to Twitter and has allowed some journalists access to Twitter’s past operations. The information that has been exposed so far, dubbed Twitter files, is very worrying. It is a story of “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
A company creates a new product, a social media that allows news dissemination & political debate in a few words. Media is finally democratised and people flock to it. The medium becomes the most effective media in socio-political space in many countries. Every government adopts it. Those disenfranchised by elitist mainstream media get means to reach common people directly. The company escapes all editorial scrutiny by promising it is just a platform and users are responsible for what they post. A perfect open marketplace of ideas where the people decide which ideas are the best, not a bunch of well-networked elites. This makes Twitter immensely powerful. It starts becoming a problem for the establishment.
Twitter plays an important part in the conservative electoral backlash of the 2010 decade in the west. This does not go unnoticed. Soon Twitter comes up with noble-sounding words like safety, protection of vulnerable populations, hate speech, even more subjective ‘hateful conduct’, special privileges for “activists” etc as excuses to censor speech. Censorship is kept completely opaque, highly subjective and unprofessionally biased. People are shadow-banned while Twitter executives hide behind technicalities to publicly lie about it. The company is staffed almost exclusively with leftist activists. Users who say things that Twitter employees do not like are summarily de-platformed. Tellingly, even humour challenging leftist ideas is curtailed. Elections are influenced. Like-minded far-left “fact checkers” are deployed to officially become the arbiters of truth. Twitter becomes a weapon of power control.
But is it only Twitter?
Users who have been noticing the obviously biased behaviour of Twitter are experiencing the exact same behaviour on all other major platforms too. Recently we published a report on Instagram condoning hate speech against Hindus. These same social media giants jump in quickly to curtail even fair doctrinal criticisms of Islam. For years Hindu users who post on civilisational, cultural and political issues on these platforms have been complaining of extreme bias. They may feel vindicated by the Twitter files exposé, but the issues continue. All they are getting from elitist media is gaslighting.
Gaslighting is defined as “To manipulate (someone) using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity or powers of reasoning”. Media is gaslighting the users who complain of the bias with laughable claims that no such bias exists, or if it does, it actually favours the other side. For example, the far-left propaganda portal ‘The Wire’ has been publishing fabricated stories about social media favouring BJP. Those stories are still being cited globally when they have now been exposed to be total lies. There is no public acknowledgement of the oppression faced by some people on social media dominated by unprofessional leftist activists. If you complain, you are dubbed a conspiracy theorist. This is happening now in the US with Twitter files too. Mainstream media is pretending it is a non-issue. They are lying.
What are the lessons for India? Let us now see what we can learn in India before we are also completely overrun by blue haired activists.
- Just because a company is a high profile successful global giant, do not assume their employees are discharging their duties professionally. Many of these companies are almost exclusively staffed with radical leftist activists who have no interest in sticking with the traditional understanding of professionalism.
- Do not believe what social media companies say openly. In the post-truth world, where the left has perfected the art of bending the meaning of words, there is no reason to believe their public protestations. The people of India deserve transparency and fair treatment. It will only come when people have the scrutinising eye of the law with them.
- Finally, platform or publisher? Social media companies have hidden behind this grey area for too long. If these companies insist on editing content going forward beyond what is legally mandated, then the people of India should have the right to hold them accountable as publishers.
- Twitter files disclosures are not about Twitter alone. In fact, there is cautious optimism that Twitter is getting fixed. The real issue is all other media that are out of reach of public scrutiny.
- Prevent shadow-banning for better decision-making. A huge risk that even liberals are unwittingly ignoring is the risk of taking bad decisions. This is something dictators face. As no counter-views are allowed, decisions are based on inadequate information, risking catastrophic decision-making.
- Defend diversity in media fiercely. We at OpIndia know how the global radical leftist ecosystem has tried to suppress our voice to maintain its monopoly over discourse. From Wikipedia to random Hijab wearing “journalists” working for The Guardian, they have all tried to discredit our voice for wrongthink (opinions that run contrary to the prevailing or mainstream orthodoxy). If we fail to defend our freedoms now, we may never have the means to win them back.
In short, what Twitter Files brought to light is just the tip of the iceberg. Do not let our democracy become the Titanic to it.
