Toolkit issue: Worried about staff safety in India says Twitter

Ground Report | New Delhi: Micro-blogging site Twitter has said that it is concerned about the safety of its staff in India. Twitter and government have been face to face over the last few days regarding the toolkit controversy. "Twitter says that in response to the tag of 'manipulated media' on some tweets of BJP leaders, they are worried about the use of police bullying tactics in response to it."

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra had tweeted and alleged that the Congress party has created a toolkit to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country. The tweet of Patra was also revived by many Union ministers including the BJP President.

The Congress had dubbed it a fake and Twitter had tagged it with 'manipulated' media (ie posts that are factually inaccurate). The Congress has also registered an FIR against the concerned Patra. The central government had asked Twitter to remove the tag of the manipulated media, but Twitter has not removed it yet.

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Meanwhile, on Monday (May 24), a team of Special Cell of Delhi Police reached Twitter India office in Delhi and Gurgaon. In the media, it was being called raids and searches but later the police said that their team had gone to the Twitter office just to give notice.

Twitter did not immediately respond to that incident. On Thursday also, Twitter, while reacting to the new digital rules of the Government of India, referred to the events of Monday. Twitter has not even directly named the Delhi Police in its response.

According to the news agency Reuters, Twitter has said, "Right now, we are concerned about the recent incidents in India with respect to our employees and the potential danger of freedom of expression for the people we serve. We, India and all over the world I am concerned with the use of bullying tactics by the police in response to the core elements of the new IT rules, along with many in civil society, enforcing our global terms of service. "

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Under the new digital rules, social media platforms have been asked to appoint a compliance officer in India, set up a complaint response mechanism and remove content within 36 hours of a legal order. Twitter has said that they will try to follow the applicable law in India, but also said that they are also committed to the principles of transparency, freedom of expression and protection of privacy.

He said that his conversation with the Government of India will continue. According to Twitter, it is necessary to adopt a cooperative attitude and it is a collective responsibility to protect the public interest.

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