Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, has found himself in the the eye of a social media storm. During his visit to India, Dorsey has attended multiple events and met political leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
His roundtable meeting with women journalists caught the eye of the Twitterati due to a photo posted on the microblogging site. Jack posed for a photo with a poster that read, “Smash Brahminical Patriarchy.”
Here Is What The Controversy Is All About
A series of Instagram stories by founder and former CEO of Buzzfeed India, Rega Jha explains the outrage of netizens over the photo.
“Smash Brahminical Patriarchy” Poster Irks Netizens
The Internet stands divided over the image that has gone viral. While some have questioned Twitter and Dorsey for inciting hate by holding up the poster, others have defended the under fire Twitter CEO.
Twitter India defended Dorsey and themselves by tweeting, “One of the participants, a Dalit activist, shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack. It is not a statement from Twitter or our CEO, but a tangible reflection of our company's efforts to see, hear, and understand all sides of important public conversations.”
Barkha Dutt Attended Meeting, Says Twitter India ‘Lying’
Twitter’s legal head, Vijaya Gadde, apologised for Twitter’s ‘failure’ to be ‘impartial’, saying the photo was supposed to be private.
After Gadde’s apology, Barkha Dutt tweeted a thread explaining that Twitter India was “lying” to everyone involved.
She said that at the meeting, after being questioned by a Dalit activist about Twitter not taking caste-based slurs seriously, Gadde had broken into tears and apologised.
The photo was later taken by a Twitter employee and emailed to all the attendees, who were encouraged to share it.
Twitterati Question Sensitive Photo
Writer, Ashwin Sanghi, decided to give the benefit of the doubt to Dorsey, but wrote about his disappointment with Twitter India’s rhetoric to the controversy.
Racism or an Attack on Oppression?
Several ‘tweeple’ have attempted to clarify that the poster is an attempt to ridicule the patriarchal society and not hurt people’s sentiments.
Let us know what you think about the incident. Should Twitter India apologise, and for what exactly? Comment below.