India: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey upsets Hindu nationalists during visit

The photo of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey holding a placard saying ‘smash Brahminical patriarchy’ went viral in one of the company’s fastest-growing markets. The picture has kicked up a social media storm in India after it wasas posted in the micro-blogging site. He was trolled for his insensitivity.

On Sunday, the picture was posted on Twitter by a journalist who was part of a group of women journalists, activists, writers whom Dorsey met during a visit to India last week. While getting the group picture clicked, he was clutching the poster of a woman holding up a banner with the line that has offended many Indian sentiments.

Many took to social media and have accused Dorsey of ‘hate mongering’ against Brahmins.

During Twitter CEO @jack‘s visit here, he & Twitter’s Legal head @vijaya took part in a round table with some of us women journalists, activists, writers & @TwitterIndia‘s @amritat to discuss the Twitter experience in India. A very insightful, no-words-minced conversation ? pic.twitter.com/LqtJQEABgV

— Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) November 18, 2018

SHOCKING! A “smash Brahmanical” poster on proud display during @Twitter CEO @jack visit to India. Is this demonology of Brahmins by foreign #BreakingIndiaForces acceptable? Is it hate speech?

— Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) November 19, 2018

TV Mohandas Pai, a former finance chief of software exporter Infosys, tweeted, “Tomorrow if @jack is given a poster with anti Semitic messages in a meeting, will his team allow him to hold it up?.” He also added, “Why is that any different? Inciting hate against any community is wrong.”

Woke up Tuesday morning to see Brahmin names floating around on my TL. If Smashing Brahminical Patriarchy is not an incitement to violence, what is? An influential platform like @twitter must be responsible. @TwitterIndia

— Chitra Subramaniam (@chitraSD) November 20, 2018

Here, I translated it for you: Someone gave our CEO a Hinduphobic poster advocating hate and violence against a religious minority, and our CEO accepted it unquestioningly and then poised for a photo with it. And we think it’s totally OK. https://t.co/dB1NFHY3jS

— Abhinav Agarwal (@AbhinavAgarwal) November 19, 2018

According to Twitter India, the poster was handed to Dorsey by a Dalit activist when it hosted a closed-door discussion with a group of women to know more about their experience using Twitter.

However, late on Monday, Vijaya Gadde, legal, policy and trust and safety lead at Twitter who accompanied Dorsey to India, apologised.

The tweet read, “I’m very sorry for this. It’s not reflective of our views. We took a private photo with a gift just given to us – we should have been more thoughtful,” she said in a tweet. “Twitter strives to be an impartial platform for all. We failed to do that here & we must do better to serve our customers in India.”

I’m very sorry for this. It’s not reletive of our views. We took a private photo with a gift just given to us – we should have been more thoughtful. Twitter strives to be an impartial platform for all. We failed to do that here & we must do better to serve our customers in India

— Vijaya Gadde (@vijaya) November 19, 2018

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