Twitter Briefly Denies Access to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's Account Over Violation of US Copyright Act

Prasad in a series of posts on Koo said that Twitter's action is in gross violation of IT rules.

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 25 June 2021 16:47 IST

Twitter Briefly Denies Access to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's Account Over Violation of US Copyright Act

Photo Credit: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

The blocking of the IT Minister's Twitter account comes at a time when Twitter is engaged in a tussle

Highlights

Prasad said it was apparent him calling out Twitter ruffled its feathers
The Indian government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance
The account was subsequently unblocked after a warning

Twitter on Friday temporarily blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's account for alleged violation of the US Copyright Act, a move that the minister slammed as being arbitrary and gross violation of IT rules.

Hitting out at Twitter, Prasad in a series of posts on another social media platform Koo said that Twitter's action is in gross violation of IT rules, as the platform had failed to give prior notice before denying access to his account.

The account was subsequently unblocked after a warning.

Twitter Slammed by Ravi Shankar Prasad for Not Complying With New IT Rules

Friends! Something highly peculiar happened today. Twitter denied access to my account for almost an hour on the alleged ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to access the account. pic.twitter.com/WspPmor9Su
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) June 25, 2021

Confronting Twitter, Prasad said it was apparent that his statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of the microblogging platform, particularly sharing clips of interviews to TV channels and the powerful impact had "clearly ruffled its feathers".

"Friends! Something highly peculiar happened today. Twitter denied access to my account for almost an hour on the alleged ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to access the account," Prasad said.

Twitter Row: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Warns US Social Media Companies

The blocking of the IT Minister's Twitter account comes at a time when the US digital giant has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules.

The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, which has led to the microblogging platform losing its intermediary status in India and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.

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