Elon Musk has commented on the issue of Twitter taking down content related to a critical documentary of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, earlier this year.
Musk declared not to be aware of the details of the situation. He added that the rules in India for what can appear on social media are strict, and companies like Twitter must comply with the country’s laws.
In January, the Indian government instructed the blocking of a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Modi, including clips via social media. In fact, the government ordered Twitter to block over 50 tweets linking to the video of the documentary. While the documentary was not aired in India, it was uploaded to some YouTube channels.
Elon Musk sat down for an impromptu interview with the BBC at Twitter headquarters. The conversation comes after the BBC put in the request two days ago to remove the Twitter assigned label as ‘gov-funded media’. The broadcaster is funded through the public licence fee, making it independent from state funding. Musk said that the label would be adjusted to ‘publicly funded’ as Twitter strives for accuracy.
BBC’s label is not the only one, as the US public broadcaster NPR has already been labelled as ‘state-affiliated media’ which was later changed to ‘gov-funded media’. It is unclear if the adjustment would be done for NPR as well.
Speaking about the general state of Twitter, Musk acknowledged issues ranging from technical issues of outages and difficulties since procuring the platform going as far as to say that he would sell ‘if a right person came along’. Mass layoffs, misinformation and Musk’s unorthodox leadership practice were also discussed.
This month the Committee of Experts on the integrity of online information (MSI-INF) held its first meeting. The Committee is composed of 13 members, comprising seven member States’ representatives, designated by the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI), and six independent experts, appointed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The committee members have recognised expertise in topics related to freedom of expression and information, online information environment and digital platform economy and design. During this year, the Committee of Experts will work on a draft guidance note on countering the spread of online mis- and disinformation through fact-checking and platform design solutions in a human rights compliant manner.
Forty-five international organisations signed a communication to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) urging them to withdraw or reconsider proposed regulations for digital media, social media, and over-the-top (OTT) platforms. The draft is dated October 2021 but was published on 6 February 2022. Stating that ‘The Draft Regulations seek to implement a content governance framework devoid of adequate judicial oversight, clarity and predictability, and integration of human rights and due process,’ the letter details eleven initial key concerns that require discussion.
