Twitter unblocks Rahul Gandhi a day after Congress leader accuses social site of interference in Indian politics

NEW DELHI – Social media giant Twitter on Saturday restored Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's account a day after he lashed at the microblogging platform saying “it was playing a dangerous game by interfering in Indian politics”.

The accounts of 51-year-old along with top party leaders were temporarily suspended around a week ago after he shared pictures of the family of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Northwest Delhi.

A Twitter spokesperson said “Gandhi had submitted a copy of the formal consent or authorization letter to use the specific image. The company had followed the due diligence process to review the appeal in order to protect the safety and privacy of the affected individuals”.

The official of the social networking platform added that “The Tweet is now withheld in India and the account access has been restored. As explained in our Country Withheld Policy, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in accordance with valid legal provisions under the Indian laws.”

Meanwhile, the Congress official handle shared a short tweet stating Satyamev Jayate [Truth shall prevail] without mentioning the decision or anything about the controversy.

Satyameva Jayate

— Congress (@INCIndia) August 14, 2021

Speaking in a video, Congress leader, who has nearly 20 million followers, accused Twitter of interfering in the national political process and said shutting down of his handle amounted to ‘an attack on the country's democratic structure’.

“Millions of my followers were unfairly denied the right to an opinion”, Gandhi said while questioning Twitter move to block him. “It's obvious now that Twitter is actually not a neutral, objective platform. It is a biased platform. It's something that listens to what the government of the day says,” he can be heard saying in the clip shared on video streaming site.

Earlier, Indian law enforcers visited Twitter's offices after it tagged a tweet from the ruling party member as ‘manipulated media’.

The US-based social media giant had also expressed concerns over freedom of expression in the ‘world’s largest democracy after the raids.