Twitter’s chief executive in India, Manish Maheshwari, was questioned by Delhi police last month in the case involving an alleged “Congress Toolkit,” sources said on Thursday. A team from the Delhi Police Special Cell was in Bengaluru on May 31 to interrogate Maheshwari, ANI news agency reported.
The development came a week after Delhi Police teams visited Twitter offices in Delhi and Gurugram to follow up on two notices regarding BJP chief Sambit Patra’s tweet on an alleged “box. to Congress tools “marked as” manipulated media “.
Twitter had been asked to explain why BJP spokesman Sambit Patra‘s tweet on May 18, which contained screenshots of what he called a “Congress toolkit” aimed at discrediting the Premier Minister Narendra Modi and the government’s handling of Covid, were labeled “manipulated media”.
The details come as Twitter faces charges of community hate speech over tweets about the assault on a Muslim man in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, on June 5. In the case filed Tuesday night, Twitter was accused of failing to remove “misleading” content related to the incident. The charges he faces include “intent to riot, promoting enmity and conspiracy”.
In a viral video, the man, Sufi Abdul Samad, alleged that his beard had been cut and that he was forced to sing “Vande Matram” and “Jai Shri Ram” by a group who had assaulted him. UP police, however, denied a community angle to the incident, saying the man was attacked by six people – Hindus and Muslims – who were angry with him for allegedly selling fake amulets. Police FIR accuses Twitter, several journalists and congressional leaders of inciting “common feelings” with posts sharing the man’s claims.
After not being able to appoint statutory agents on time, Twitter lost the coveted “safe haven” immunity in India. Senior executives at the company, including the country’s chief executive, could now be questioned by police and prosecuted for “illegal” and “inflammatory” content posted on the platform by any user.
With this, Twitter becomes the only American platform to have lost the protective shield – granted under section 79 of the IT law, even though others like YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp remain protected.