New Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Lands In Controversy After Trolls Dig Out His Old Tweet On Racism

The new Indian-American CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, right away ran into a controversy after trolls dug out his old tweets where he seems to be suggesting that "white people are racists."

The right-wing trolls and some media outfits claimed to have unearthed a decade-old tweet which they said appeared to suggest he believed all white people are racist.

The tweet, published on October 26, 2010, when Agrawal had not even joined Twitter, read ¡°If they are not gonna make a distinction between Muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists?¡±

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However, Agrawal clarified in the thread that he was only quoting the comedian Aasif Mandvi who had said something on these lines on the Daily Show.

Why a controversy

This is the fresh ammo that conservative people have got their hands on. They have routinely accused Twitter of censoring them and see Agarwal as Dorsey¡¯s legatee, worked themselves into a lather, wondering if the social media platform would get even harder on them.

Many right-wing followers have decamped to the platform Parler after Twitter turfed out former President Donald Trump.

A surprising move

In a move that surprised everyone, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey stepped down from the position on Monday, giving the reins to Indian-American Parag Agrawal.

Before becoming CEO at Twitter, Parag Agrawal was the chief technology officer (CTO) at the company. As the news about Twitter's bold move came in, company stocks shot up 10 per cent.

With this, Twitter has two Indian-origin leaders at the helm, including its policy and safety lead director Vijaya Gadde.

Agrawal studied at IIT-Bombay after which he attended Stanford University to get a Ph.D. in computer science. In 2011, he joined Twitter as a distinguished software engineer, moving up the ladder quickly to take over CTO duties in 2017.

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According to former CEO Jack Dorsey, after a rigorous selection process, Twitter's board of directors appointed Agrawal "unanimously." In a letter shared publicly on Twitter, Dorsey claimed that Agrawal had played a key role in "every critical decision" that helped turn Twitter around.

Similarly, Agrawal also shared a note on Twitter, wherein he wrote about Twitter's "incredible impact, our continued progress, and the exciting opportunities ahead of us."

"I joined this company 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees," he added. "There is no limit to what we can do together," Agrawal exclaimed.

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