NEW DELHI: Twitter on Thursday locked the official handle of Congress party stating that the handle violated rules of the microblogging site.
The Congress took to another social media platform Facebook to inform about Twitter’s locking after the party account.
“When our leaders were put in jails, we were not scared then why would we be afraid of closing our Twitter accounts now. We are Congress, this is the message of the people, we will fight, we will keep fighting. If it is a crime to raise our voice to get justice for the rape victim girl, then we will do this crime a hundred times. Jai Hind… Satyamev Jayate,” said the party’s post on Facebook.
Twitter reasoned blocking of Congress accounts and said that it violated rules and the action was to protect individuals’ privacy and safety.
When contacted, a Twitter spokesperson on Thursday said the company’s rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone in its service.
“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,” the spokesperson said.

Reacting to the development, Social Media Head of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Rohan Gupta said that nothing will deter the party from raising the voice of the people.
He alleged that Twitter while acting under the government’s pressure, has blocked the accounts of more than 5,000 party leaders and workers across India.

Raising questions on microblogging site’s action, Gupta said, “Twitter has blocked its account for violation of rules Twitter acting under government pressure. Twitter is acting under the government’s pressure. If it is a violation of Twitter policy, then why the photo of the (Victim’s) family was there on the Scheduled Caste (SC) commission handle from August 2 to August 5.”
On August 7, Twitter had blocked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi‘s Twitter account which remains locked for over five days now.

The microblogging site on Wednesday night also suspended the accounts of several Congress members, including general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, AICC officebearers Ajay Maken, Sushmita Dev and Randeep Surjewala and Lok Sabha MP and AICC Telangana in-charge Manickam Tagore. The Twitter handle of Rahul’s personal staffer KB Byju was also suspended.

In each case, the notification issued was that the content was found violative of Twitter rules and the user was asked to appeal in case he/she thought it was incorrectly locked.

Rahul’s account was suspended after the government complained that he had violated the law by posting a picture of a family of a minor Dalit girl who had been gang-raped and killed. The new accounts also appear to have been suspended on the same complaint. All the users those whose accounts have been suspended had joined the “Main Bhi Rahul” campaign, launched after Rahul met the girl’s family.
AICC spokesman Pranav Jha said the responsibility for this “illegal action” on Twitter accounts of Congress leaders lay with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and government. He also blamed Twitter.
Watch Twitter locks Congress party’s official handle