Twitter reportedly unblocked accounts of Indian politicians of the main opposition party on Saturday, including its leader, Rahul Gandhi, after several days of being locked.
Twitter unblocks accounts of Indian politicians
According to several reports, Gandhi had posted a picture of himself and the parents who had lost their child to a heinous act of rape and murder. The incident happened on 1 August 2021, in New Dehli. Gandhi, who has over 19 million followers on the platform, said in a passionate tweet that the parents deserved justice for what had happened to their child.
The accounts have now been restored, according to reports, following a review by the social media giants. According to Reuters, the email which announced the reinstatement of the accounts said that the tweet is available across the world, except India.
The tweet was withheld in India because of a disclosure law that is against the exposure of identities of children, as well as those who have suffered and are victims of sexual assault.
Rahul Gandhi critises Twitter for “playing partisan politics”
Gandhi recently critised Twitter, saying that the social media giant was playing partisan politics. Twitter has been in a vigorous scuffle with the government for months, according to Reuters, for not swiftly complying with India’s new IT rules that required the firm to hire compliance officers by May and who are aimed at regulating content on social media. However, according to statements by the government, it seems like Twitter is finally following suit.
Manish Maheshwari, Twitter’s India chief, will be taking up a new position in the United States of America. There is reportedly no reason for this change of position. However, according to an internal staff memo that was seen by Reuters, colleagues thanked him for his work in India during “extraordinarily challenging times.”