Elon Musk, in a recent interview to BBC, expressed his views on free speech in India and the country’s strict rules for social media. He stated that he understood that there were laws in India that governed what could appear on social media platforms and that he could not go beyond those laws.
Musk, in a Twitter Spaces interview, said that he would rather comply with Indian government’s strict rules than risking his employees going to jail.
Musk also added that the “rules in India for what can appear on social media are quite strict, and we can’t go beyond the laws of a country.”
The IT Rules, which came into effect on February 25, 2021, require social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person, and a resident grievance officer to handle user complaints. They also require companies to remove content within 36 hours of a legal order and to provide information about the originator of a message or post if requested by authorities.
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Twitter last year had to comply with the Indian government’s new IT Rules after government warned the company to comply or face stricter action. The rules required social media platforms to remove posts marked as misinformation by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) or face liability.