Ravi Shankar Prasad says Twitter denied entry to his account for an hour, phrases it ‘gross violation’

Amid an intensified public spat between Twitter India and the federal government over the brand new IT Rules, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad Friday tweeted that the microblogging platform had denied him entry to his account for nearly an hour alleging a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA.
In a screenshot shared by the Union minister, Twitter informs that his account has been locked following a criticism Digital Millennium Copyright Act Notice for content material posted on his account.
Following the message, Twitter allowed him entry to the account.

Friends! Something extremely peculiar occurred as we speak. Twitter denied entry to my account for nearly an hour on the alleged floor that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to entry the account. pic.twitter.com/WspPmor9Su
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) June 25, 2021
Slamming the transfer, Prasad mentioned, “Twitter’s actions were in gross violation of Rule 4(8) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 where they failed to provide me any prior notice before denying me access to my own account.”
He additional mentioned that “it is apparent that his statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of his interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers.”

Granting Prasad entry to his account, Twitter, in one other message, warned that his account could be locked once more and doubtlessly suspended if any further notices are obtained towards it. “In order to avoid this, do not post additional materials in violation of our Copyright Policy and immediately remove any material from your account for which you are not authorised to post,” it added.

Further attacking the microblogging platform, the Union minister mentioned that it’s now obvious as to why Twitter is refusing to adjust to the Intermediary Guidelines as a result of “if Twitter does comply, it would be unable to arbitrarily deny access to an individual’s account which does not suit their agenda.”

Insisting that he has not dedicated any copyright violation of any kind, Prasad mentioned, “…in the past several years, no television channel or any anchor has made any complaints about copyright infringements with regard to these news clips of my interviews shared on social media.”
He added that Twitter’s actions “indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be, but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform.”
Prasad, nonetheless, maintained that it doesn’t matter what a platform does, “they are to abide by the new IT Rules fully with no scope for a compromise.”
Last week, Ravi Shankar Prasad had mentioned that the microblogging platform had “deliberately chosen” to not adjust to new middleman tips regardless of being given “multiple opportunities”. His remarks got here after Ministry officers recommended that Twitter India now not loved authorized safety.
He additionally criticised Twitter for what he referred to as its “arbitrariness in fighting fake news” and “its inconsistency in fighting misinformation”.
The minister additional warned that “if any foreign entity believes that they can portray itself as the flag bearer of free speech in India to excuse itself from complying with the laws of the land, such attempts are misplaced”.

Sources within the Ministry had instructed The Indian Express final week that Twitter had did not appoint executives within the roles of resident grievance officer, nodal officer and chief compliance officer as per norms of the federal government.
Section 79 the Information Technology (IT) Act says any middleman shall not be held legally or in any other case chargeable for any third get together data, knowledge, or communication hyperlink made out there or hosted on its platform. This safety, the Act says, shall be relevant if the mentioned middleman doesn’t in any method, provoke the transmission of the message in query, choose the receiver of the transmitted message and doesn’t modify any data contained within the transmission.

Guidelines issued in February required all important social media intermediaries to designate Indian resident executives as resident grievance officer, nodal contact particular person and chief compliance officer by May 26.
And on May 26, the Ministry wrote to those intermediaries, asking them to furnish particulars of all appointments made as quickly as potential. Over the following week, all main social media intermediaries complied.