WASHINGTON:
Twitter's new Indian-American CEO
Parag Agrawal
was deluged with
controversy
within hours of taking charge of the social media platform on Monday, with
conservative
lawmakers and right wing activists scrutinizing his stand on free speech and religion on the basis of his past tweets while dubbing him part of the "radical left".
The Republican House Judiciary Committee posted a tweet by Agrawal in which he purportedly equated all white people with racists (Agrawal was actually quoting the comedian Aasif Mandvi) with the comment, "Didn’t think it could get much worse than
Jack Dorsey
. But yikes."
"If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists," Agrawal had quoted Mandvi saying.
Also under the scanner was a 2020 interview with MIT Technology Review in which Agrawal addressed protecting free speech and fighting misinformation on Twitter, saying the platform's main role is not to decide what’s true and what’s not — and to block users or content accordingly — but rather to decide on content in the service of a healthy public debate.
“Our role is not to be bound by the First Amendment, but our role is to serve a healthy public conversation and our moves are reflective of things that we believe lead to a healthier public conversation,” Agrawal had said, leading conservatives to question his views on free speech.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn also unearthed a 2010 comment by Agrawal in which he appeared to take a dim view of religion, to comment, "Twitter’s new CEO called religion a pyramid scheme. This is who is going to be controlling your speech online."
Right wing activists raged at the few stray posts -- some of them predating his joining Twitter -- even as the tech world celebrated a spectacular rise that has made him, at 37 and born a few months earlier than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest Fortune 500 CEO.
"If you think Twitter is going to change now that Jack Dorsey has been replaced by Parag Agrawal, you are kidding yourself. Parag is a Leftist Liberal on Steroids!" Renee Lynn, a social media activist who professes to "Save America from Radical Left...and Save India from Secularism" tweeted.
"I don't know why Nationalist Indians get so excited about Parag Agrawal as the new CEO of Twitter or the other Leftist Liberal Indians leading Google, IBM, YouTube, etc. They're all the same, you can't share your point of view if it is not their narrative. You will be censored," she said in another tweet.
More extreme trolls pitched in with racist and offensive tweets, including some that invoked the "smell of curry" and the caste system.
There were also the usual jokes and memes, with one post noting that he hailed from the Agarwal (or Agrawal) community, famed among other things for its expertise over sweets.
Twitter, one post observed lightheartedly, is now "Agrawal Tweet Shop."