Congress 'Toolkit' Row: Delhi Police Seeks Twitter's Explanation Over ‘Manipulated Media’ Tag On BJP leaders' Tweets

The Delhi Police Special Cell, which sent notice to Twitter in connection with a probe over “manipulated media” tag used with some of the posts, asked the social media platform to explain the reason behind their decision to add the tag.

Representative Photo: Getty Images

New Delhi: Delhi Police has sent a notice to Twitter demanding an explanation for adding the ‘manipulated media’ tag to tweets by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on the alleged Congress ‘toolkit’.

The Delhi Police Special Cell, which sent notice to Twitter in connection with a probe over “manipulated media” tag used with some of the posts, asked the social media platform to explain the reason behind their decision to add the tag.

READ: ''FIR On Sonia, Rahul's Directions'': Raman Singh Protests For Being Probed In 'Toolkit' Issue

"Delhi Police is enquiring into a complaint in which clarification is sought from Twitter on the classification of a tweet by Sambit Patra as 'manipulative'. It appears that Twitter has some information that is not known to us on basis of which they've classified it as such,": the department said.

"This information is relevant to the inquiry. The Special Cell, which is conducting the inquiry, wants to find out the truth. Twitter, which has claimed to know the underlying truth, should clarify,": Delhi Police added.

The Indian government had earlier objected to Twitter for flagging BJP leaders' tweet on alleged Congress toolkit to target Centre over its Covid-19 handling as 'manipulated media'.

The Union government had reportedly asked the micro-blogging site to remove 'manipulated media' tag as the matter is pending before law enforcement agency and made it clear that the social media platform cannot pass judgment when the issue is under investigation.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had written a strong communication to the global team of Twitter registering its objection to the 'manipulated media' tag on tweets made by some political leaders with reference to the toolkit allegedly created to undermine, derail and demean the efforts of the government against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The development came after Twitter put up a 'manipulated media' notification on BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra's tweet where he posted about the alleged Congress toolkit.