The Central government has asked Twitter to remove "manipulated media" tags for tweets on an alleged "Congress toolkit", Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sources told news agency ANI.
MeitY has written a "strong communication" to global team of Twitter registering objection on use of "manipulated media" tag on certain tweets by Indian politicians with reference to a toolkit created to derail the govt's efforts against COVID-19, sources said.
"The Ministry has further stated that Twitter unilaterally chose to go ahead and designate certain tweets as 'manipulated', pending investigation. This action not only dilutes the credibility of Twitter but also puts question mark on status of Twitter as an "intermediary"," sources added.
This comes after Twitter labelled a tweet of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on the alleged toolkit prepared by Congress to target the Modi government as "manipulated media".
According to the microblogging website, it "may label tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated."
Earlier, Congress had written to Twitter asking it to permanently suspend the accounts of BJP leaders including party chief JP Nadda and Union Minister Smriti Irani for allegedly "spreading misinformation and unrest in the society". The grand old party has said that the 'toolkit' documents shared by the BJP are "fake" and has filed police complaint against its leaders.
