Digvijaya Singh calls Twitter ‘politically biased’ after it blocks his ‘tweets on Modi, Shah’

Twitter has cited 'potentially sensitive content' as the reason for blocking the senior Congress leader’s tweets.

File image of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh | digvijayasingh.in

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Thursday accused Twitter of being “biased” against him after the microblogging site blocked some of his tweets citing “potentially sensitive content”.

“Twitter has been blocking my tweets saying it ‘includes potentially sensitive content’ such as these without telling me what is ‘potentially sensitive content’ in my tweets? (sic)” the senior Congress leader wrote, demanding a response from Twitter’s India head.

Twitter has been blocking my tweets saying it “includes potentially sensitive content” such as these without telling me what is “potentially sensitive content” in my tweets? I need to have the response of Twitter Country Head of India. pic.twitter.com/OFvRnwwFNB

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) July 23, 2020

Singh went on to describe his political career and said he was a “responsible citizen” of the country.

“I am a responsible Indian citizen who has been elected to MP Assembly 5 times Lok Sabha twice and Rajya Sabha twice. I have been Minister in MP and CM MP for 10 years. Why should I post any objectionable tweet? (sic)” Singh added.

I am a responsible Indian Citizen who has been elected to MP Assembly 5 times Lok Sabha twice and Rajya Sabha twice. I have been Minister in MP and CM MP for 10 years. Why should I post any objectionable tweet?

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) July 23, 2020

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister also accused Twitter of being “politically biased” and blocking his tweets because they were against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

“If saying something against Narendra Modi or Amit Shah you find to be of ‘sensitive content’ then you are being politically biased against me which you have no right to be. I have earlier complained to your Management of your biased attitude against me but without any response,” Singh tweeted.

If saying something against Narendra Modi or Amit Shah you find to be of “sensitive content” then you are being politically biased against me which you have no right to be. I have earlier complained to your Management of your biased attitude against me but without any response. https://t.co/NNH0YwK4b2

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) July 23, 2020

 

Twitter blocked activities from Digvijaya’s account earlier too

This isn’t the first time that Twitter has blocked activities from Singh’s account. In 2019, Singh had accused the microblogging site of blocking his retweets and replies.

Singh had then alleged that Twitter blocked his activities because he questioned the central government over its intelligence failure that led to the Pulwama attack.

While on one hand, he added, the platform takes no action against hateful and abusive posts, it had blocked his tweets from getting retweeted.

The social media platform was recently questioned by the Supreme Court over alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary by activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan. Twitter Inc’s senior counsel Sajan Poovayya has told the apex court that the site would disable Bhushan’s tweets if it was ordered by the court.

The company’s private information policy states, “The consequences for violating our private information policy depends on the severity of the violation and the accounts’ previous history of violations.”

According to the company, a first time violation of its policies lead to the removal of content and the user gets temporarily locked out of his or her account. A repeat violation leads to permanent suspension of the account.