New Delhi: Twitter temporarily blocked Friday the account of IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The account was blocked for alleged violation of the US Copyright Act. However, the move was severely criticised by Ravi Shankar Prasad who called it ‘arbitrary’ and ‘gross violation of IT rules’.
Prasad hit out at Twitter in a series of posts on social media platform Koo. He said that Twitter’s action is in gross violation of IT rules. Prasad pointed out that the platform had failed to give prior notice before denying access to his account. The account was subsequently unblocked after a warning.
Prasad said it was apparent that his statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of the microblogging platform, particularly sharing clips of interviews to TV channels and the powerful impact had ‘clearly ruffled its 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 said.
The blocking of the IT Minister’s Twitter account comes at a time when the US 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 India’s new IT rules. It has led to the microblogging platform losing its intermediary status in India and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.