National News

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya urges govt to regulate Big Tech, says they violate free speech

January 10, 2021
The Commune

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Saturday January 9 once again urged the Indian government to review the laws governing big social media firms in India. This was after social media giant Twitter permanently banned US President Donald Trump from its platform citing a ‘risk of incitement of violence’.

Using the same platform that banned President Trump, MP Surya said that the suspension of Trump’s Twitter account was a “wake-up call for democracies” on the threat posed by “unregulated” big-tech companies. “If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to anyone”, he continued.

Tejasvi had urged the government to repeal the ‘IT Intermediaries Guidelines Rules’ during zero hour in the parliament. “They (the guidelines) are problematic because they empower private foreign enterprises performing essentially a public function to act as censors as free speech without government oversight, thus effectively and severely impacting safeguards of fundamental rights to free speech(sic),” Surya said.

Furthermore, Tejasvi Surya pointed out that he had earlier written to the Centre regarding the anomaly of the regulatory laws governing big-tech companies. “I had earlier written to govt to review the IT Intermediary Guidelines Rules on account of them being violative of #FoE guaranteed under the Constitution. The guidelines allow intermediaries to exercise wide powers that are beyond constitutional limits”, he tweeted.

“Intermediaries aren’t like media platforms. They’re exempt from liability via Sec 79 of IT Act, which bars them from meddling with content. Intermediary guidelines are in contrast to “Intermediary” under IT Act by giving them power to censor free speech without State oversight”, he continued in another tweet.

“Recently, the actions of social media giants have paved the way for introspection and consequential amendments in India’s tech laws. Actions of Intermediaries must be condemned and any law that provides such wide powers must be reviewed. Dissent is fundamental to democracy and government welcomes it. But only constitutional authorities can decide on its reasonability. Lately, we’ve witnessed a sea change in the actions of big-tech companies, which have themselves assumed this role”, he went on.

Calling for regulations on big-tech companies, Surya said that citizens decide what their opinions are and that they are free to express themselves. Facebook and Twitter serve as platforms of expression and should not curtail people’s will, he said.

Donald Trump’s Twitter ban came after pro-Trump protestors stormed the US Capitol on an eventful day. The ensuing violence led to the death of 4 protestors, including a female USAF veteran.

Twitter flagged Amit Malviya’s tweet in November

BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya also commented on Trump’s Twitter account ban, saying “deplatforming Donald Trump, a sitting US president, sets a dangerous precedent. It has less to do with his views and more to do with intolerance for a differing point. Ironically, those who claim to champion free speech are celebrating. Big tech firms are now the new oligarchs.”

Earlier in November, Twitter had flagged a tweet by the BJP IT Cell chief as “manipulated media” after the BJP leader shared a video on farmers’ protest as a reply to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tweet on the farmers’ protests.