Twitter denies access to Prasad, Tharoor's accounts
New Delhi: Amid its strained relations with the Indian government, Twitter on Friday briefly blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from accessing his account over alleged violation of the US copyright law — a move that was immediately slammed by him as being arbitrary and against IT rules.
This is the first instance of a Twitter account of a Union Minister getting blocked.
While the exact nature of the violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was not immediately known, Prasad could not access his account '@rsprasad' on Friday morning even though the Twitter account of the minister was visible for public viewing.
The access was unlocked about an hour later with a warning that the account may be locked again or potentially suspended in case of any additional notices against the account.
Hours after Prasad was blocked from accessing his account, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor claimed he was also denied access to his account. Tharoor wrote, "Raviji, the same thing just happened to me. Clearly DMCA is getting hyperactive. This tweet has been deleted by @Twitter because its video includes the copyrighted BoneyM song Rasputin."
After a process, the account was unlocked, the Congress leader said.
"As Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, I can state that we will be seeking an explanation from @TwitterIndia for the locking of @rsprasad's & my accounts & the rules & procedures they follow while operating in India," Tharoor said.
Lashing out at Twitter, Prasad — in a series of posts on rival social media platform Koo — said it was apparent that his statements calling out the "high handedness and arbitrary actions" of Twitter had ruffled feathers.
"Friends! Something highly peculiar happened today. Twitter denied access to my account for almost an hour on the alleged ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to access the account," Prasad wrote. He also tweeted on the issue.
The temporary locking of the IT Minister's Twitter account comes at a time when the US-based digital giant has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules.
The government has slammed
Twitter for deliberate defiance and
failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, which has led to the microblogging platform losing its
legal shield as an intermediary in
India and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content. "It is apparent that my statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of my interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers," the minister said.
He went on to say that it is now obvious why Twitter is refusing to comply with the intermediary guidelines and added "because if Twitter does comply, it would be unable to arbitrarily deny access to an individual's account which does not suit their agenda". Twitter's actions are in gross violation of IT Rules, where they failed to provide any prior notice before denying access to the account, the minister pointed out.
