Who is the Barbra Streisand of Bollywood? There’s a new documentary, produced by the BBC about India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Specifically, the documentary is focused on Modi’s relationship with India’s Muslim community, including his apparent role during some anti-Muslim riots (where over 1,000 people were killed) two decades ago. And, apparently, it doesn’t make Modi look very good. I know this because India has banned the documentary. And is also demanding that clips of the documentary be removed from the internet.
And Twitter (and YouTube) have complied.
The two-part documentary “India: The Modi Question” has not been broadcast in India by the BBC, but India’s federal government blocked it over the weekend and banned people from sharing clips on social media, citing emergency powers under its information technology laws. Twitter and YouTube complied with the request and removed many links to the documentary.
Of course, doing so seems to only be drawing more attention to the documentary.
The ban has only brought more attention to the program, with many people, including opposition politicians, protesting the move and providing links to download it.
There really should be a term for that sorta thing.
Anyway, this is why we mocked Elon’s professed “free speech absolutism” when he made claims about how his view of free speech was that it meant “that which matches the law.”
Except, that’s not supporting free speech. It’s supporting free speech suppression by governments. Indeed, as we pointed out (and were mocked for by Musk’s very vocal fans for), Twitter actually has a pretty long history of fighting back against government censorship in that country. Indeed, Musk whined about Twitter’s actions to fight for free speech in India.
If you believe in free speech, that means standing up against government censorship. Not bowing down to it. That’s not free speech at all. (And yes, YouTube should also not cave to this kind of nonsense, but YouTube hasn’t been running around taking as strong a “moral” stance as Musk has).
Either way, students in India are actually showing Musk and YouTube what fighting for free speech looks like as they’re refusing to back down:
“They will shut one screen, and we will open hundreds,” said Aishe Ghosh, one of the student activists who attended.
The Indian government is now arresting students for trying to screen the documentary, showing way more support and commitment to actual free speech than Elon Musk ever has.
