Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State, lost his verification badge for a while on Twitter for a while on Monday. The disappearance of the blue tick led to intense speculation regarding the cause behind it as the social media platform and the Government of India has not been on the same page much in recent times.
However, not too long after, the blue tick of the Union Minister was restored.
While some suspect malice on the part of Twitter for the development, it can be said with almost certainty that the removal of the blue tick and subsequent restoration was due to more mundane reasons.
Why Rajeev Chandrasekhar lost his blue tick temporarily
Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been tweeting under the username @Rajeev_mp through his verified handle. However, days after his appointment as a Union Minister, he changed his username to @Rajeev_GoI. That is what triggered the removal of the blue tick.
Please note: changing your username will result in losing your badge. Questions? File request at http://t.co/zb2ykUyF we’ll get to it ASAP!
— Twitter Verified (@verified) July 19, 2012
Twitter has a policy of removing the verified badge in case of a change in the username.
People on social media suspected the worst probably because Twitter has been engaging in dubious conduct in recent times. Ever since the Government sought to implement new rules for intermediaries, the social media platform has been doing everything in its power to delay following the rules.
Moreover, recently, former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was locked out of his account without any prior information. In the case of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, however, there is much more reasonable explanation.
