If Twitter doesn't obey local laws, access can be cut off: Elon Musk

If Twitter fails to obey local laws, then access to the platform in that place can be cut off, said the social media giant’s owner Elon Musk.

Asked to respond to recent comments by Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey, Musk told reporters in New York late Tuesday that Twitter has no choice but to obey local governments.

Dorsey recently said that India threatened to shut down the social media platform unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government handled 2021 farmer protests.

Rejecting Dorsey’s claims, Indian Deputy Minister for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar called them an “outright lie.”

"If we don't obey local government laws, then we will get shut down. So the best we can do is to work close to the laws in any given country," said Musk, warning that if not, "We will be blocked or arrested."

Saying "one cannot just apply America” to the whole world, Musk added: "We will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law."

Earlier Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in the US on his first state visit.

Musk, also the CEO of Tesla, said Modi is pushing the electric carmaker to make significant investments in India. Asked if Tesla will enter the Indian market, he said he is planning to visit India next year. "I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible. I would like to thank the prime minister for his support and hopefully we will be able to announce something in the not-so-distant future," Musk said.

He added: "We do not want to jump the gun on an announcement but I think it is quite likely that it will be a significant investment in our relationship with India in the future." The social media giant owner also praised Modi, saying the Indian premier "really cares about India," and he is "pushing us to make significant investment in India, which is something we intend to do." On Wednesday morning, the Indian Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting Modi invited Musk to explore "opportunities in India for investments in electric mobility and rapidly expanding commercial space sector." Modi arrived in the US on Tuesday on a state visit at the invitation of US President Joe Biden.

In May, Twitter pulled out of the EU’s voluntary anti-disinformation code, but in a Monday interview, he said Twitter will abide by EU laws to combat disinformation and hate speech.

Since he bought the company last year, Musk’s tenure as Twitter chief has been marked by controversy over loosening guardrails against disinformation and abusive speech as well as a sharp drop in the company’s value of about 40%.