Twitter blocks Sushmita Dev’s handle; “Action was taken under political pressure,” Mahila Cong President

On Friday, many top-tier Congress leaders found their Twitter handles blocked. They are unable to react to tweets, post new ones or retweet. This comes after the US-headquartered microblogging giant blocked the Indian National Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s account. Randeep Surjewala, Ajay Maken, Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore and Sushmita Dev are among the accounts that are currently restricted.

“On 1st August, the incident of the brutal rape, murder and forced cremation of the 9-year-old child occurred. On 2nd August, the SC Commission tweeted the victim’s family-picture, which triggered no reaction from Twitter. On 4th August, after Rahul Gandhi Ji tweeted about meeting the family and offered his support, Twitter reacted and locked his account for a privacy violation,” reacted Dev.

She questioned, “Previously Amit Malviya, IT Cell head of the BJP had tweeted the name of the Hathras Victim and neither Twitter nor the National Commission for Protection of Child’s Right took any action. NCPCR didn’t even react to Amit Malviya, why?”

“So no action against the SC Commision on 2nd or 3rd but Twitter jumped into action after Rahul Gandhis tweet of 4th. This is under political pressure,” she asserted.

The Congress’ IT cell pointed out that Twitter rules do not treat information already in the public domain as violative of privacy. “What has pushed them to take this action – Political pressure because BJP has failed the nation on women’s security. The same rules apply differently to the opposition and differently to BJP why?” Congress questioned.

Former Minister and one of the most popular Indians on Twitter also criticised the imposed restrictions. Twitter responded to the allegations stating that they were alerted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights about specific content on the platform that allegedly revealed the identity of an alleged sexual assault victim’s (and a minor’s) parents. This was reviewed against its Rules and policies, as well as the concerns expressed as a matter of the Indian law.

“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, ” read the statement issued by Twitter.

The former Silchar MP is in New Delhi where she attended a “Halla Bol” protest at Jantar Mantar against the “growing atrocities and crimes against women and children especially of those from the most backwards and scheduled caste communities.”

She posted on Facebook, “They may block our social media accounts but they can never stifle our voice in the fight for justice.”