Explosive Insights: Twitter Ex C.E.O. spills the beans on Modi government's rift
India denied on Tuesday that it had said it would shut down Twitter in the country if it didn't block accounts that were critical about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
India, which has the largest democracy in the world, asks Twitter to remove material more than almost any other country, and the site often does so when asked by Indian authorities.
India threatened to shut down Twitter in the country if it didn't follow orders to limit accounts that were necessary of how the government handled farmer protests, said Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government called this claim a "outright lie."
Dorsey, who had stepoed down as CEO of Twitter in 2021, said on Monday that India had also threatened the company with staff raids if it didn't take down certain posts as the government asked.
"They said things like, 'We'll shut down Twitter in India,' which is a big market for us, and 'We'll raid the homes of your employees,' which they did. This is India, which is a democracy," Dorsey said in an interview with the YouTube news show Breaking Points.
In reaction, the Minister for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, slammed Dorsey by calling what he said a "outright lie."
No one went to jail, and Twitter wasn't "turned off." "Dorsey's Twitter couldn't accept that Indian law was the law of the land," he said in a tweet.
Dorsey's words brought up again how hard it is for foreign tech companies to do business in India while Modi is in charge. His government has often criticised Google, Facebook, and Twitter for not doing enough to stop fake or "anti-India" material on their platforms or for not following the rules.
The former CEO of Twitter's words got a lot of attention because it's rare for international companies with offices in India to criticise the government in public. In a court statement from last year, Xiaomi said that India's financial crime agency had threatened its executives with "physical violence" and coercion. The agency denied this claim.
Several high-level Indian officials attacked what Dorsey said and how Twitter has handled false information in the past. But many lawmakers from the opposition said that the government shut down the views of farmers during the 2020-2021 protest, which was one of the hardest things Modi has had to deal with.
The government gave in to the protesters in the end and got rid of the rules that they said hurt farmers.
"It shows that anyone who even tries to be brave will be stopped," said Supriya Shrinate, a spokesperson for the major opposition party, the Congress party.
Dorsey also talked about pressure from the governments of Turkey and Nigeria, which at different times over the years had banned the platform in their countries before lifting those bans.
Last year, Twitter said that India was fourth in the world in terms of how many times a government asked it to remove content, after Japan, Russia, and Turkey.
Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy Twitter last year.
Chandrasekhar said that Dorsey and his team at Twitter had broken Indian law many times. He didn't say Musk's name, but he did say that Twitter had been following the rules since June 2022.
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RBI cancels banking licence of Paytm Payments Bank
Mumbai (PTI): The RBI on Friday announced the cancellation of banking licence issued to Paytm Payments Bank for non-compliance with norms, saying the affairs of the bank were conducted in a manner detrimental to the interest of its depositors.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will make an application for winding up of the bank before the high court.
The bank failed to comply with the conditions stipulated in the Payments Bank licence issued to it, the central bank said.
One97 Communications, which owns Paytm brand, in company filing said the company has no exposure to Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) as it had already impaired its investment in the beleaguered entity as of March 31, 2024.
PPBL, was an associate firm of Vijay Shekhar Sharma-promoted fintech firm Paytm, came under the regulatory scanner on multiple occasions earlier, including in March 2022 when the central bank barred it from onboarding new customers.
The licence was cancelled effective from the close of business hours on Friday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said, adding that Paytm Payments Bank has enough liquidity to repay its entire deposit liability upon winding up.
The RBI said the affairs of the bank were conducted in a manner detrimental to its own interests as well as its depositors.
"The general character of the management of the bank is prejudicial to the interest of depositors as also the public interest... no useful purpose or public interest would be served by allowing the bank to continue...," the RBI said in a statement.
Paytm Payments Bank was not complying with certain norms of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, it added.
According to the central bank, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd is prohibited from conducting the business of "banking" or any additional business specified under the Banking Regulation Act with immediate effect.
Paytm Payments Bank started operations as a payments bank with effect from May 23, 2017. The Reserve Bank had issued a licence to the bank to carry on the business of payments bank in the country.
The bank has been under the RBI lens over the past many years.
Paytm in the regulatory filing cited disclosure dated March 1, 2024 and said it does not have any exposure to PPBL or any material business arrangements with PPBL.
"No services provided by the Company are in partnership with PPBL. Additionally, PPBL operates independently, with no board or management involvement from the Company. There is no direct financial impact on the Company since, as previously disclosed, the Company had already impaired its investment in PPBL as of March 31, 2024," the filing said.
Paytm said its services will continue uninterrupted.
The services include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies such as Paytm QR, Paytm Soundbox, Paytm card machines, and Paytm Payment Gateway, Paytm Money among others.
Earlier, PPBL was directed to stop onboarding new customers with effect from March 11, 2022 amid "material supervisory concerns" observed in the bank.
The bank was also directed to appoint an IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit of its IT system.
Thereafter, on January 31, 2024 and February 16, 2024, certain business restrictions were also imposed on the bank, including disallowing any further deposits/credits/ top-ups in existing customer accounts, prepaid instruments, and wallets.
