New Delhi
Hours after a BJP spokesperson’s tweets on an alleged Congress ‘toolkit’ on the Centre’s Covid-19 response were labelled as ‘manipulated media’, the government on Friday asked Twitter to remove the tag, saying the social media platform cannot pass judgment on a matter under investigation.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT wrote “a strong communication” to Twitter registering objection to the use of ‘manipulated media’ tag on certain tweets, sources said. The communication referred to tweets by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as one “made by Indian political leaders” and went on to state they were in “reference to a toolkit created to undermine, derail and demean the efforts of the Government against Covid-19 pandemic”.
It asked the microblogging platform to remove the ‘manipulated media’ tag as the matter is pending probe before law enforcement agency.
Sources said the government has also made it clear the social media platform cannot pass judgment while the matter is under probe.
The 'manipulated media' tagging appeared "pre-judged, prejudiced" and a "deliberate attempt to colour the investigation" by local law enforcement agency and "influence fair investigation process", sources said.
When contacted, a Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.
High Court bars WhatsApp, Telegram from sharing ToI e-paper: The Delhi HC on Friday passed an interim order restraining social networking platforms WhatsApp and Telegram and certain individuals from allegedly illegally circulating e-papers of BCCL on their respective platforms.
