Musk would have to do a lot of balancing to fly his sparrow in India without runing into trouble
After purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, has sacked its Indian CEO Parag Agrawal. Another Indian, Sriram Krishnan, will be closely associated with the revamp. The exit of Agrawal was inevitable, given the value system Musk subscribes to. Musk is a “free speech absolutist.” Ironically, this has made him a villain in the eyes of liberals. There was a time when the world’s richest man was adored by thought leaders and glitterati, for he believed in, among other things, climate change. All this changed when he championed the cause of free speech. On the face of it, this is surprising because liberals are expected to uphold individual liberty and freedom of expression; but that doesn’t happen anymore. So, the antipathy towards Musk is enormous. There have been rumours right from the beginning about massive layoffs if he takes over the company. There were reports that three-fourths of the employees would lose their jobs once the $44-billion deal is closed; Musk denied any such plan. Then several media organisations showed two laid-off employees moving out; it turned out that they were pranksters. The fact that multiple media platforms were tricked by a pair of pranksters also underlines the fact that reporting on Twitter takeover has to be taken with a pinch of salt. What is undeniable is that Krishnan is, in his own words, “helping out” Musk in the social media giant’s revamp.
A tech guy and general partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Krishnan “led core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth,” his profile said. He is expected to play a key role in carrying out the changes Musk wants to carry out. The billionaire owner wants to revise its user verification process. Twitter is reportedly contemplating charging for the blue check mark which verifies the identity of an account holder. There is also a report about a $19.99 payment for the new Twitter Blue subscription. How Musk’s Twitter fares in India, a big market, will be interesting to see. The Government hasn’t commented anything substantive on the takeover. “Our rules and laws for intermediaries remain the same regardless of who owns the platforms,” said Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. “So, the expectation of compliance with Indian laws and rules remains.” Musk’s free speech absolutism will be severely tested in our country, where freedom of expression faces assaults on an hourly basis and from all quarters. Sentiments in India are so delicate that they keep getting hurt all the time; worse, political parties and governments are always concerned about sentiments and never about freedom of expression. In a nutshell, Musk would have to take care of a variety of factors—his free speech beliefs, India’s sentimentalism peddlers, and liberals in the West. A great deal of balancing will be needed.