Twitter has withheld the account of Rajya Sabha member Sukhram Singh Yadav, as first reported by MediaNama. This move follows updates provided by the social media platform on its response to government orders to block accounts that allegedly spread misinformation about farmers’ protest against the new farm laws. Twitter mentioned in its response that no action was taken against the politicians’ accounts. Yadav’s account appears to have been held only in India, as his Twitter page is reportedly accessible from other countries.
As pointed out MediaNama, when trying access your profile, users get the message “@ MPSukhram’s account has been detained in India in response to legal action.” Twitter has yet to officially confirm the reason behind the move.
UPDATE (Feb 12, 3:50 pm): Yadav issued a response regarding the retention of his account, demanding “due action” against Twitter’s action.
“I have not done anything wrong in the eyes of the government. I tweeted about the agricultural protest and therefore the account has been blocked. I want to inform you about this matter. I have special power. I want the necessary measures to be taken to be taken against those who blocked my Twitter account, “he said.
On Wednesday, Twitter published a blog post saying that the government’s account blocking actions were incompatible with Indian law. Twitter mentioned that it took action against hundreds of accounts as of January 26 and suspended more than 500 accounts.
However, the social media platform stressed that no actions were taken against accounts related to media entities, journalists, activists and politicians. Twitter said it believed that taking action on such accounts would “violate its fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.”
Gadgets 360 has reached out to Twitter for clarification on the reason for the lockdown. We will update this report when we hear from you.
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She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.