In latest weeks, Elon Musk has lastly appeared to make some inroads in India, a probably big market whose authorities has pissed off him with its commerce limitations. Tesla seems to be getting ready one other try to sell cars in the country, and Starlink, his satellite tv for pc web supplier, signed partnerships with two Indian firms.
On the similar time, although, Mr. Musk is choosing a combat with the Indian authorities via one other piece of his empire: his social media firm, X.
This month, X, previously referred to as Twitter, filed a lawsuit in an Indian courtroom accusing the federal government of misusing a legislation to dam content material on the positioning. Whereas Mr. Musk has portrayed himself as a champion of free speech, it’s a sensitive topic for the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has confronted allegations of stifling dissent and clamping down on expression. A listening to within the lawsuit is anticipated Thursday.
The platform’s chatbot, Grok, has additionally posed a problem for Indian officers, who’re scrutinizing it for potential violations of knowledge know-how legal guidelines, in keeping with Indian media reviews. Grok, which Mr. Musk has promoted as a straight-talking, “anti-woke” digital instrument, has generated each mirth and outrage in India because it has spewed profanities in Hindi and made politically delicate statements in response to person queries.
For instance, when customers requested Grok about media bias, it replied that Mr. Modi’s occasion spends closely to “sway narratives.” It added: “Media bias isn’t new, however the occasion’s grip has tightened since 2014, usually silencing vital voices.”
The free-speech marketing campaign by Mr. Musk’s firm has landed in the course of a fragile second for relations between Washington and New Delhi.
A workforce from the Workplace of the U.S. Commerce Consultant is in India to debate bilateral commerce agreements. President Trump has pushed the Modi authorities to decrease tariffs on American merchandise, together with vehicles and agricultural items. If the 2 nations can’t come to an settlement by April 2, Mr. Trump has vowed to impose reciprocal levies.
Mr. Musk is one in every of Mr. Trump’s closest advisers, and when Mr. Modi visited the White Home final month, he met with Mr. Musk and his household. If the Modi authorities accommodates Mr. Trump’s tariff calls for, Tesla may discover its method into India extra simply — a main instance of the billionaire’s uncommon tangle of personal, political and business interests within the nation.
Mr. Musk has sought to promote Teslas in India for years. After a failed try and enter the Indian market in 2021, the corporate lately started to pursue the chance anew, buying business areas and shifting to rent salespeople.
Starlink, the telecommunications subsidiary of Mr. Musk’s area know-how firm, SpaceX, is additional alongside in India.
Till lately, Starlink, which offers web connectivity by way of satellites, had been banned within the nation. However on March 13, India’s two largest telecom operators introduced joint ventures with Starlink to carry its companies to India, pending authorities approval. The announcement got here precisely a month after Mr. Modi’s chat with Mr. Musk in Washington.
Mr. Musk’s potential enterprise positive aspects from his brewing combat with the Indian authorities over X are much less clear. The social media platform represents solely a small fragment of Mr. Musk’s wealth, which Forbes pegs at $350 billion, with the majority coming from SpaceX and Tesla.
However X offers him an outsize megaphone, and his promotion of the positioning as open to all voices — together with conservative ones he claims have been suppressed — is effectively obtained throughout the Trump administration.
In a lawsuit filed on March 5 within the Indian state of Karnataka, X alleged that the Indian authorities’s broad use of a legislation to dam content material it deems objectionable violates the provisions of one other legislation, which lays down the method for the way and when info might be eliminated.
Within the swimsuit, X additionally referred to as the federal government’s “Sahyog Portal” — which automates the method of submitting takedown orders for on-line posts by official our bodies and native police — a “censorship” portal.
Mr. Musk, who has referred to as himself a “free-speech absolutist,” has weighed in on the difficulty in India previously.
“The principles in India for what can seem on social media are fairly strict, and we will’t transcend the legal guidelines of a rustic,” he told the BBC in 2023. “If we’ve a selection of both our individuals go to jail or we adjust to the legal guidelines, we’ll comply”
Mr. Musk has not spoken publicly concerning the present lawsuit, though he did reply to a BBC article about Grok with a laugh-cry emoji on X.
Indian media reviews have mentioned that the federal government is questioning X over using profanity by Grok because it examines whether or not the chatbot has violated legal guidelines.
Requested whether or not its responses to person queries had precipitated bother with the Indian authorities, Grok replied within the affirmative.
“This kicked off after a few of my unfiltered, sarcastic responses — typically together with native expletives — went viral on X, drawing each amusement and criticism,” the bot wrote. “Issues escalated as customers saved pushing me with politically charged or cheeky questions, and I saved answering in my regular candid model.”
