Congress says party's official account blocked by Twitter

The Congress alleged on Thursday that the partys official Twitter handle as well as that of a large number of its leaders and workers have been blocked by the microblogging website which justified the action saying it has been done for violating rulesThe development comes close on the heels of the blocking of Congress leader Rahul Gandhis Twitter handle after he shared pictures of the family of a nineyearold alleged rapeandmurder victim in Delhi last week in violation of lawsTwitter on its part said the blocking of the accounts of several Congress leaders including that of Gandhi was done to protect individual privacy and safety after they posted images that violated its rulesThe Congress accused the website of acting against Gandhis account under pressure from the governmentThe chief spokesperson of the party Randeep Surjewala said the Narendra Modi government will not be able to suppress their voice by threatening TwitterHow much will you scare Twitter at the behest of the police This is not just an issue of freedom of speech but it is the issue of raising the voice of a poor Valmiki Dalit girl for justice and bringing it before the country Till justice is given to the poor girl we will continue to raise this voice he saidThe Modi government cannot cowardly suppress our voice by threatening Twitter Surjewala told reportersOn Instagram the Congress said Twitter India has locked the official handle of the principal opposition party This is an unprecedented attack on the voice of the peopleThe head of the Congresss social media department Rohan Gupta said the partys official Twitter handle and around 5000 accounts of its top leaders and workers have been blocked by the websiteHe alleged that Twitter is acting against the opposition party leaders under pressure from the governmentTwitter is clearly acting under governments pressure as it did not remove the same pictures shared by the Twitter account of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes for a few days Gupta saidThe Twitter accounts of All India Congress Committee AICC general secretaries Surjewala K C Venugopal Ajay Maken the partys whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore Assam incharge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh and Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev have also been blocked the party saidWhen contacted a Twitter spokesperson said the companys rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone in its serviceWe 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 individual privacy and safety he saidAccording to Twitter if a tweet is found to be in violation of its rules and is not deleted by the account holder the microblogging platform hides it behind a notice and the account remains locked until the said tweet is removed or the appeal is successfully processedThe USbased company said it was alerted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR about specific content on the platform that revealed the identity of an alleged sexual assault victim who is a minor and her parents The said content was reviewed against Twitters rules and policies as well as the concerns expressed as a matter of Indian lawSo After Shri RahulGandhi the Lord narendramodi Ji and Vassal Jack amp twitter have locked rssurjewala ajaymaken amp sushmitadevinc INCIndia registers its protest and promises to continue the fight for each and all being wronged We shall hold on AshwiniVaishnaw Ji tweeted Pranav Jha AICC secretary incharge of the partys communications department on Wednesday night His account was also blocked by Twitter subsequentlyThe list goes on Twitter locks JitendraSAlwar and manickamtagore and many more Doesnt Modi Ji understand that we INCindians have a legacy of fighting even from behind the locks of kaala paani Jha had asked in another tweetHe thinks the virtual locks of Twitter will deter us from fighting for India he saidGandhi had tweeted pictures with the family of the nineyearold victim of alleged rape and murder in Delhi last weekThe NCPCR took cognisance of the former Congress chiefs tweet and directed Twitter to act against his account for violating the privacy of a minor victim mandated by the laws of the landCongress leaders changed their Twitter handle names to Rahul Gandhi with some of them even replacing their display pictures on the microblogging site with that of the former party chiefMany of them accused Twitter of acting out of fear of the governmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever