Twitter denies access to IT Minister Prasad's account for 1 hour alleging violation of US Copyright Act

NEW DELHI: Twitter on Friday temporarily blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's account for alleged violation of the US Copyright Act, a move that the minister slammed as being arbitrary and in gross violation of IT rules.

Hitting out at Twitter, Prasad in a series of posts on another social media platform Koo said that Twitter's action is in gross violation of IT rules, as the platform had failed to give prior notice before denying access to his account. The account was subsequently unblocked after a warning.

Friends! Something highly peculiar happened today. Twitter denied access to my account for almost an hour on the alleged ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to access the account. pic.twitter.com/WspPmor9Su

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) June 25, 2021

Confronting Twitter, Prasad said it was apparent that his statements calling out the high-handedness and arbitrary actions of the microblogging platform, particularly sharing clips of interviews to TV channels and the powerful impact it had "clearly ruffled its feathers".

The blocking of the IT Minister's Twitter account comes at a time when the US digital giant has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules.

The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, which has led to the microblogging platform losing its intermediary status in India and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.