This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, has upset Hindu nationalists and some members of the Brahmin caste in India by posing for a picture with a placard reading: “Smash Brahminical patriarchy”.

WhatsApp struggling to control fake news in India, researchers say Read more

A leading policy officer for the company has apologised to users, and told them neither Twitter nor Dorsey endorsed the sign’s message that the oppression of the Hindu caste system – which places Brahmins at the top - must be dismantled alongside male dominance.

That, in turn, has angered Indian activists who oppose patriarchy and the caste system.

Dorsey has been touring India, one of Twitter’s fastest growing markets, meeting figures including the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) 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

Last weekend, the Twitter chief met a group of journalists, writers and activists in Delhi to hear about their experiences on the website and app, which has been criticised for facilitating the abuse and harassment of prominent Indian women.

Among the attendees to the off-the-record event was an activist belonging to the Dalit, formerly “untouchable” caste that occupies the bottom rung of the intricate system that still determines the shape of most Hindu lives.

The Guardian understands the activist gave Dorsey the sign at the beginning of the closed-door session, and that he was still holding it at the end when the photograph was taken.

It sparked anger among some Brahmins, who are regarded as the highest caste, as well as from Hindu nationalists, who seek to downplay the religion’s fissures and unite adherents under a single cultural and political umbrella.

Among the critics were senior journalists and business people, as well as prominent figures on the Hindu right.

Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) 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?

Chitra Subramaniam (@chitraSD) 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

Abhinav Agarwal (@AbhinavAgarwal) 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

“I’m very sorry for this,” Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s legal and policy head told one user. “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.

“Twitter strives to be an impartial platform for all,” she added. “We failed to do that here & we must do better to serve our customers in India.”

That apology angered others, who argued Twitter should forthrightly oppose Brahminism, the system of beliefs and practices that perpetuates the place of Brahmins in India’s social order.

Sandhya Ramesh (@sandygrains) Terribly disappointing st. on behalf of Twitter. Both Brahminism & patriarchy are oppressive by nature, so why would Twitter's views not reflect giving space to marginalized voices? Calling pandering "impartial" is just a cop out preventing actual efforts to make this space equal

It was the latest misstep for a major Silicon Valley company in India, a frontier market where many technology firms have been focusing their resources as their customer bases in Europe, the US and Australia become saturated.

'It's digital colonialism': how Facebook's free internet service has failed its users Read more

India has about 330m smartphones in circulation, the second highest in the world, but it has the world’s largest offline population: more than 1 billion people in 2016, according to the World Bank. Hundreds of millions of Indians are expected to come online in the next decade.

Twitter is estimated to have about 34.4m active monthly users in the country.

Facebook attempted to give away a free, limited version of the internet in villages across India in 2015. But the plan, called Free Basics, was criticised as “digital colonialism” and was found to violate net neutrality.

Snapchat also faced a public relations storm when a disgruntled former employee claimed its CEO, Evan Spiegel, had said the app was “only for rich people” and that he did not want to expand into “poor countries like India”. The company denies Spiegel made the remarks.

Twitter, on its official account, seemed to sum up the situation in a tweet on Monday night. “Awkward,” it said.