New Delhi: The Congress party has claimed that the official Twitter handle of the party has been locked since last night. The party has also mentioned that the Twitter accounts of 5 other senior leaders have also been locked since Wednesday night.
According to information, the account has been locked for violating the rules of the microblogging platform. However, Congress has said that it is the government's conspiracy to suppress the voice of the opposition.
Congress has shared a screenshot of the Twitter account in its official Facebook handle which shows that the account has been locked for sharing Rahul Gandhi's tweet which also breached Twitter's policies.
"Twitter is acting under govt pressure. It has already blocked 5000 accounts of our leaders & workers across India. They need to understand we can't be pressurized by Twitter or govt", said Rohan Gupta, Social Media Head, AICC
Congress secretary-communication Vineet Punia in a tweet mentioned that the list of accounts that are facing the suspension include Congress media in charge Randeep Surjewala and Twitter handles of AICC general secretary and former union minister Ajay Maken, party MP Manickam Tagore, Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev, Assam in-charge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh Alwar were locked.
Twitter had locked the account of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he tweeted a photograph of the parents of a nine-year-old Dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and killed at a crematorium in Southwest Delhi on August 01.
Twitter India also informed the Delhi High Court and said, "Rahul Gandhi's tweet violated our policy also, we have already removed that tweet and his Twitter account is also been locked."
The court was hearing a PIL by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) which sought necessary legal action against Rahul Gandhi for his tweet.
"No picture of such child, or any such particular which can directly or indirectly disclose her identity, can be published. A child who is not in conflict with the law but is a victim of an offence, especially a sexual offence, needs this protection even more," the plea read.
Why Twitter locked Congress leaders' and party's accounts?
A Twitter official spoke to ABP News and explained why did the microblogging site take such action.
He said, " The Twitter Rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone on our 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. We strongly encourage everyone on the service to familiarise themselves with the Twitter Rules and report anything they believe is in violation. "
He also mentioned the process on how Twitter took steps after Rahul Gandhi's tweet revealed the identity of the rape victim's parents. He said:
• As explained in Twitter's Help Center, if a Tweet was found to be in violation of the Twitter Rules, and has yet to be deleted by the account holder, we hide it behind a notice and the account remains locked until the Tweet is removed or the appeal is successfully processed.
• We were alerted by NCPCR about specific content on our platform that allegedly revealed the identity of an alleged sexual assault victim’s (and a minor’s) parents. We reviewed it against Twitter Rules and policies, as well as the concerns expressed as a matter of Indian law.