Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey has ‘liked’ several tweets related to the farmer protests in India, among them one that praised singer Rihanna for her post questioning the internet shutdown in Delhi-NCR amid the agitation.
One of the tweets that Dorsey ‘liked’ was one by Washington Post journalist Karen Attiah, wherein she wrote, "Rihanna has raised her voice for social justice movements in Sudan, Nigeria, and now India, and Myanmar. She is a real one."
Another tweet that Dorsey ‘liked’ was also by Attiah, in which she wrote that it would be a good time for the social media platform to add a Twitter emoji for the farmers protests in India, as it had done for international protests such as ‘Black Lives Matter’.
These actions would make it seem that Dorsey has taken a political position over the farmers’ protest and the government’s aggressive efforts to push back against international voices like singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg extending their support to the movement.
India Condemns International Reactions
India’s government has highly condemned the tweets from international quarters in support of the farmers’ protest, saying "The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible."
“Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken,” the statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs read.
In addition to the government’s response, several sports personalities, actors and politicians have tweeted and requested people to remain united and not allow external entities to harm the sovereignty of the country.
The Delhi Police on Thursday, has said that they will be probing the ‘toolkit’ on farmer protests in India shared by Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter as she announced her support to the agitation. Earlier, reports had said that the cops had named Thunberg in the FIR, post which she had tweeted that no amount of threats would change her stance and she "still" stood with farmers.
“We haven’t named anybody in the FIR. It’s only against the creators of toolkit, which is a matter of investigation and the Delhi Police will be investigating that case,” Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner of Police (CP) told the media.
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