Twitter has labeled 5 more tweets on the ‘Congress toolkit’ by BJP politicians as ‘manipulated media’ after adding theto a toolkit tweet by Sambit Patra. The label had attracted criticism from the government which saw it as an attempt to influence an ongoing investigation.
The ‘manipulated media’ tag was added to tweets by Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, BJP national social media in-charge Priti Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh co-incharge Sunil Deodhar, BJP media panelist Charu Pragya and BJP Delhi general secretary Kuljeet Singh Chahal. Tweets by others have also received the tag.
Here are the tweets which have received the ‘manipulated media’ tag:
Twitter also labeled the Congress toolkit tweet by Team Bharat as ‘manipulated media’.
On Friday, the Ministry of Electronics and IT had demanded that the tag be removed, asserting that it is up to investigative authorities and not Twitter to determine the veracity of the toolkit.
Sources within the Ministry said, “Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India has written a strong communication to the global team of Twitter registering objection on the use of “Manipulated Media” tag on certain Tweets made by Indian political leaders with reference to a toolkit created to undermine, derail and demean the efforts of the Government against COVID19 pandemic.”
Sources said, “Such tagging by Twitter appears prejudged, prejudiced and a deliberate attempt to colour the investigation by local law enforcement agency. The Ministry has termed such unilateral action by Twitter as an effort to influence the fair investigation process and a clear overreach, which is totally unwarranted.”
Despite the objection by the Government, Twitter continues to have the label on the said tweets.