New Delhi : After a tweet of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was deleted by Twitter, now his Twitter account also has been locked. The official Twitter account of the Congress party informed that Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account has been ‘temporarily suspended’. The party also informed that due process is being followed to restore the account.
Earlier, a tweet posted by Rahul Gandhi was removed by Twitter because he had revealed the identity of a nine-year-old girl alleged rape victim. He had done so by posting a photograph of himself with the parents of the victim. Following the post, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had issued a notice to Twitter India seeking action against the senior Congress leader. Accordingly, the Tweet was removed, and presumably, the account was also locked for the same reason.
It may be noted that while the Congress party says Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account has been ‘temporarily suspended’, it seems actually the account is only locked and not suspended, which means he can’t post any new tweet but can access the account. The account is still there on Twitter and his old tweets are available. When an account is suspended, the account becomes inaccessible, with a message saying it has been suspended.
It is interesting to note that the information about the ‘temporary suspension’ from the Congress party came only after a large number of Twitter users tagged Rahul Gandhi asking why he has not congratulated javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra yet for winning a gold medal at the Olympics. It seems the handlers of the Twitter account realised the restriction on the account only after they tried to post a congratulatory message.
Rahul Gandhi has posted messages on Facebook and Instagram marking the Indian gold medal at Olympics, while he was unable to do so on Twitter. The Congress party’s tweet also mentioned that he will continue to use other social media platforms while the Twitter account remains locked
