Who are they, reacts Kangana Ranaut after Twitter raises concern over threat to ‘freedom of speech’

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, May 28

Kangana Ranaut has reacted to Twitter’s recent statement regarding their concerns over the threat to freedom of speech. This comes after Kangana was banned earlier this month from the microblogging website.   

Twitter had issued a notification, suggesting that the new IT rules have elements that restrain a free conversation. 

Taking to her Instagram Stories, Kangana shared Twitter’s statement and said: “Poor Twitter begging for the freedom of speech, twitter the great, the unelected member of parliament, supreme justice of the world, keeper of the moral compass of humanity and what is their basic qualifications or credentials to ask or forcefully acquire this power? Who are they?”

“Handful of druggies who can be bought and sold easily, everything has a price tag from followers to promotional tweets, these money greedy private businessmen and capitalists want to run nations, bully and control the governments? Really haven’t we learnt from east India company?” she added.

Twitter on Thursday had issued a statement: 

“Twitter is deeply committed to the people of India. Our service has proven vital for the public conversation and a source of support for people during the pandemic. To keep our service available, we will strive to comply with applicable law in India. But, just as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law.”

“Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve. We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global Terms of Service, as well as with core elements of the new IT Rules,” the spokesperson added.

Kangana’s Twitter account was “permanently suspended” on May 3 after she posted a series of tweets in reaction to the recent West Bengal assembly election results. 

A Twitter spokesperson had said her account was suspended “for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy”.