Minister Of Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad & Dr Shashi Tharoor were locked out of their Twitter accounts this week for a bizarre number of reasons. 

© BCCL

For those who have been unaware of the situation, the Indian Ministry of Information & Technology had drafted a couple of regulations, which all digital media and social media platforms have to abide by. Dr Tharoor was the chairperson of a parliamentary panel that was looking into Twitter’s concerns over the rules and regulations, and whether their concerns were legitimate or not. 

© BCCL

Within hours, their accounts were again unlocked.

From the surface, this seems like a rather vindictive move by Twitter, after it was determined that Twitter needs to abide by those guidelines if it wants to operate in India. However, further investigation into the matter has revealed, that the reason why Twitter locked Minister Ravi Shankar & Dr Tharoor out, is quite bizarre.

© BCCL

Both, Minister Shankar, & Dr Tharoor had retweeted posts that contained portions of copyrighted songs. Dr Tharoor’s retweet contained a portion of a BoneyM song called "Rasputin," whereas Minister Ravi Shankar’s tweet contained a portion of AR Rahman’s “Maa Tujhe Salaam.”

Here’s where things get interesting. Standard policies dictate that using very brief portions of a song for non-commercial purposes is fair usage. Moreover, whenever a Tweet contains any copyrighted material, the tweet itself is removed. The account tweeting the copyrighted material getting locked is rather unprecedented.

Also, let’s not forget, that Dr Tharoor, simply retweeted an already existing Tweet.

In both cases, Twitter was apparently acting against a complaint it received from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, on behalf of Sony Music Entertainment. The interesting thing is, that the complaint, cited a US Law, called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

© Twitter/rsprasad

After they were able to access their account, nboth the parliamentarians received a notice from Tiwtter saying that if they received more copyright infringement complaints, their accounts might get locked again, or even suspended.

© Twitter/rsprasad

This has obviously led to some netizens crying foul, and suspecting that there is something ulterior about these accounts being locked. 

I don’t care about anyone’s deafening silence sir. I only know one thing that we gave 303 and @rsprasad is throwing them in DUSTBIN.

Blocking a Minister is an Insult to INDIA. And only thing needed is to #BanTwitter but instead our minister is cribbing about his HELPLESSNESS.!

— Covaxinated Swanand (BJP ki Vaccine (@swanand220 June 25, 2021

Sad & bad for such action on our IT minister Twitter handle without notice & assigning any reason. Where r d so called champs who raises their voices for xyz & r silent on this unwanted action ?

— Ram Chauhan (@RamChau74958007 June 25, 2021

I think Nigeria has more guts / daring then a giant country like India..

Don't just keep saying on @Twitter , show them off.

Just blocked it, if you have guts.

For netizens #NationFirst @OfficeOfRSP

— Hiren Pawar. (@HirenPawar1 June 25, 2021

I think Nigeria has more guts / daring then a giant country like India..

Don't just keep saying on @Twitter , show them off.

Just blocked it, if you have guts.

For netizens #NationFirst @OfficeOfRSP

— Hiren Pawar. (@HirenPawar1 June 25, 2021

Take strict action against twitter. We are ashamed that our Law minister's account is locked by them

— Sreenesh Rao🇮🇳 (@sreeneshrao June 25, 2021

Indians creatively make videos using short snippets of foreign music. Most people would consider that "fair use". Instead of letting the clip enhance the popularity of their sing, the copyright holders have issued notice. Though i just RTd it, I'm not about to contest their act.

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor June 25, 2021

@ShashiTharoor @rsprasad I beg to differ with Shashiji. There are many versions of that video on twitter. It was clearly a case of celebrity targetting to gain visibility. See this one and quite a few are still live.. https://t.co/zGaCdvHIBl

— Faujivakil (@faujivakil June 26, 2021

RS Prasad: pic.twitter.com/AtYbbnuNPY

— KJ (@saffron_tweeter June 25, 2021

Hahaha Gathbandhan tweet
That's what #ravishankarprasad saying inform in Advance Or any individual before any action
Which is New IT Rule

— Nandini Idnani🇮🇳 (@idnani_nandini June 25, 2021

@ShashiTharoor @rsprasad I beg to differ with Shashiji. There are many versions of that video on twitter. It was clearly a case of celebrity targetting to gain visibility. See this one and quite a few are still live.. https://t.co/zGaCdvHIBl

— Faujivakil (@faujivakil June 26, 2021

What do you guys make of this situation? Was Twitter was right in locking the accounts of Minister Shankar, and Dr Tharoor, who just happens to be leading the parliamentary panel on ensuring that digital media platforms abide by certain rules? Or was it being a little too punitive? Do let us know in the comments below.

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