India v. Platforms
Tensions between major social media platforms and the Indian government have reached a new high. In recent months, India has demanded that Twitter remove a range of content critical of the government and has even sent police to Twitter\u2019s offices in New Delhi in what Twitter has called \u201cintimidation tactics\u201d. The government recently instituted new rules that exert strong control over how companies operating in India govern their platforms\u2014rules that have already prompted a legal challenge from Whatsapp in Indian court.
On today\u2019s episode of the Lawfare Podcast's Arbiters of Truth series on our online information ecosystem, Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Nikhil Pahwa to put these latest clashes between platforms and the Indian government in context. Nikhil is a technology journalist and digital rights activist and the founder of the Indian technology publication MediaNama\u2014and he\u2019s been watching this story closely. Whatever happens, this showdown in the world\u2019s largest democracy will have lasting implications, not only within India but around the globe as well. It\u2019s a geopolitical battle over who gets to assert sovereignty over the internet, and how.
Listeners who want more background on the subject of today\u2019s episode might also be interested in this episode with Chinmayi Arun on the Indian government\u2019s clashes with social media, from February 2021.
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