Farmers Movement Archive

Day after farmers' protests, Twitter suspends 300 accounts

NEW DELHI: A day after farmers’ protests turned the Capital into an arena of violence, Twitter said it has suspended at least 300 accounts for violating its "platform manipulation and spam" policy in relation to the incidents. In a statement released on Wednesday, the microblogging platform said the accounts were suspended to prevent physical harm. "We have taken strong enforcement action to protect the conversation on the service from attempts to incite violence, abuse and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm," read the statement, adding that the platform took action on "hundreds of accounts and Tweets that have been in violation of Twitter rules". "(We have) suspended more than 300 accounts engaged in spam and platform manipulation. We have also applied labels to Tweets that were found to be in violation of synthetic and manipulated media policy. We are monitoring the situation closely and remain vigilant," Twitter said. It did not, however, clarify what propaganda the handles were spreading. Twitter's manipulation policy prevents users from "artificially" amplifying or suppressing information. It deals with fake accounts and commercial spam, among other things. On Tuesday, the violence in Delhi was shared live on the platform through pictures and short video clips; some of them leading to widespread rumours.

The Times of India

2021-01-28

India