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03-05-2023
TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Twitter complied at least partially with almost every government request to take down content after Elon Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, took over the platform, Twitter’s self-reported data shows.
The social media giant fully or partially complied with 98.8 percent of takedown requests it received from October 27, the date of Musk’s takeover, to April 13, including hundreds of requests from Turkey and India, which have faced criticism for silencing critics.
Twitter fully complied with 808, or 83 percent, of requests and partially did so with 154, or 15.8 percent, according to Twitter data compiled by the Berkman Centre for Internet Society at Harvard Law School.
Twitter did not report rejecting a single takedown request during the period, although it did not report the outcome of nine cases.
Turkey was responsible for half of all the takedown requests, followed by Germany and India, which accounted for 26 percent and 5 percent, respectively
The data raises questions about Musk’s stated commitment to safeguarding free speech, which the billionaire chief executive of Tesla invoked as a key reason for purchasing the site last year for $44bn.
Under Twitter’s previous ownership, the social media site complied with government takedown requests at a lower rate.
Twitter fully complied with 440, or 50 percent, of requests and partially complied with 377, or 42 percent, during the 12-month period before Musk’s takeover.
Turkey was also the biggest source of these requests at 27 percent, followed by South Korea with 20.6 percent and India with 12.8 percent.
Corynne McSherry, legal director of the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the development was cause for concern.
“As Twitter’s own previous reports and actions show, government takedown requests are frequently legally flawed or improper, and even lawful requests may conflict with international freedom of expression principles,” McSherry told media.
“And while many have abandoned Twitter, it remains a powerful and important platform internationally, particularly for journalists and human rights defenders,” she said. “Further, if Twitter is complying so quickly with takedown requests, one has to wonder what other government requests Twitter is fulfilling without protest.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
