Micro-blogging site Twitter took action against Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut by deleting some of her tweets, stating that the now-deleted posts were in violation of the platform's guidelines. This comes a day after Kangana reacted to international pop sensation Rihanna's support for the ongoing farmers' protest. And, after several Indian celebrities (film stars, cricketers) supported Rihanna's tweet, Kangana responded to them with profanities in her tweet. This led to the twitter guidelines violation and deletion of some of her tweets.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed, "We have taken action on Tweets that were in violation of the Twitter Rules in line with our range of enforcement options." Last week, Rihanna had taken to her Twitter handle and shared a news story by CNN on the internet shutdown in several districts of Delhi's neighbouring state Haryana after protestors broke barricades to enter New Delhi and clashed with police in several parts of the national capital during the January 26 'tractor rally' protest organised by farmers. The protestors also entered the iconic Mughal Era monument Red Fort and unfurled their flags from its ramparts.
Accounts linked to stir suspended
Twitter has once again suspended or withheld the accounts of some users associated with the farmers’ agitation. At least three accounts - Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s official IT cell Kisan Ekta Morcha, Tractor2Twitter and BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan - are among those which have been suspended.
Tractor2Twitter and BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) have activated other accounts with similar names but limited activity. Twitter had suspended some of the accounts on February 1, six days after the January 26 violence, but they were restored after a few hours on the same day.
However, the fresh round of suspension comes after the IT ministry warned the microblogging service company to remove inflammatory content or be ready to face jail and financial penalty.
Sanyukt Kisan Morcha IT cell head Baljit Singh said: “Not only Kisan Ekta Morcha, even the associated Twitter accounts are being withheld or suspended.” BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said: “The central government got Twitter to suspend farmers’ accounts and yet our protest is gaining ground.”
