Twitter CEO faces social media outrage after he holds placard in India slamming
New Delhi, Nov 20 (IBNS): Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has landed himself in a social media storm and faced backlash on the very microblogging platform he heads over his recent action in India when he was seen holding a placard stating 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy'.
Social media experts are saying the picture of the placard he was holding may cost the company a lot in long term, media reports said.
During his recent visit, Dorsey was seen along with several women journalists holding a placard with the controversial line, seen as a form of hate statement targeting a community in India- read the upper caste 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
Dorsey has also faced backlash on Twitter where several users, including some big shots, criticised him for holding a placard with such a statement.
Mohandas Pai, the former Director of Infosys and present Chairman of Manipal Global Education, tweeted, "What a shame; How can people put such a hate poster and malign a community: @jack How can you as ceo of @twitter be party to this kind of hate? Shocking; this is @brahminphobia of the worst kind"
What a shame; How can people put such a hate poster and malign a community: @jack How can you as ceo of @twitter be party to this kind of hate? Shocking; this is @brahminphobia of the worst kind https://t.co/bWU0eBo9yG
— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) November 19, 2018
Twitter reacted to the development saying, "Recently we hosted a closed door discussion with a group of women journalists and change makers from India to better understand their experience using Twitter. One of the participants, a Dalit activist, shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack."
Recently we hosted a closed door discussion with a group of women journalists and change makers from India to better understand their experience using Twitter. One of the participants, a Dalit activist, shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack. https://t.co/96gd3XmFgK
— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) November 19, 2018
"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 that happen on our service around the world."
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 that happen on our service around the world.
— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) November 19, 2018
However, the experts said the company might not be hit much on a short-term basis, but the long term repercussions cannot be ruled out.
Yash Mishra, founder of social networking app VoxWeb, has been quoted by Economic Times as saying, "Usually there is no short-term impact from such instances; platforms have a high ecosystem lock-in, as we have seen with Facebook, whose founder was involved in numerous controversies."
"However, in the long term, this impacts the company’s goodwill, and such issues can push users to a rival platform if one comes up.”
Meanwhile, sarcastic remarks also started pouring in on Twitter supporting the placard's message.
Harry Potter and the Brahmin's Stone
— âœà®®à®´à®²à¯ˆ™ï¸ (@WritterMazhalai) November 20, 2018
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Brahmins
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Brahmin
Harry Potter and the Brahmin of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Brahmin
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Brahmin
#ReplaceMovieNameWithBrahmins
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