Picture : Twitter / ANI
Twitter reasoned blocking of several accounts of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, for posting an image that it said violated its rules and the action was to protect individuals’ privacy and safety.
Twitter handles of Gandhi and several Congress leaders have been locked by the US firm for posting pictures of the family of the nine-year-old Dalit rape and murder victim last week in the national capital. The Congress party’s official Twitter account has also been blocked. Former party president Rahul Gandhi’s account has been blocked for a week now.
When contacted, a Twitter spokesperson on Thursday said the company’s rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone in its service. “We have taken proactive action on several hundred tweets that posted an image that violated our rules and may continue to do so in line with our range of enforcement options. Certain types of private information carry higher risks than others, and our aim is always to protect individuals’ privacy and safety,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that Twitter strongly encourages everyone on the service to familiarise themselves with the Twitter Rules and report anything they believe is in violation.
According to Twitter, if a tweet was found to be in violation of its rules and isn’t deleted by the account holder, the microblogging platform hides it behind a notice and the account remains locked until the said tweet is removed or the appeal is successfully processed.
The US-based company said it was alerted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) about specific content on the platform that allegedly revealed the identity of an alleged sexual assault victim’s (and a minor’s) parents. The said content was reviewed against Twitter’s rules and policies as well as the concerns expressed as a matter of Indian law.
Meanwhile , Congress has slammed the government over the blocking . According to media reports, the Twitter accounts of All India Congress Committee general secretaries Randeep Surjewala, K C Venugopal, Ajay Maken, party’s whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, Assam in-charge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev have also been locked, the party said.
The opposition party took to Facebook and Instagram to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the incident and asked, “Modi ji, just how afraid are you?
Congress social media department head Rohan Gupta said the party’s official Twitter account and around 5,000 accounts of its top leaders and workers have been blocked by Twitter.
He alleged that Twitter is acting against Congress leaders under pressure from the government.
“Twitter is clearly acting under government’s pressure, as it did not remove the same pictures shared by the Twitter accounts of National Commission for Scheduled Castes for a few days,” Gupta said.
