Informed Ravi Shankar Prasad of copyright violation before account lock: Twitter

Twitter said Prasad’s tweet violated DMCA for AR Rahman’s Maa Tujhe Salaam and Tharoor’s tweet for Boney M’s Rasputin. (File Image)

Twitter has told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) that it informed former IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that his account would be blocked for copyright infringement.

In its submission before the Shashi Tharoor-led panel, the company said Prasad had been informed about the temporary block on his account due to a US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) strike on June 25, ANI reported. The account was later restored.

Notably, Tharoor’s own twitter account was also similarly locked. The panel had sought a written reply on the incidents from Twitter seeking to “know the grounds on which the site locked the account”.

To this, Twitter said it had received DMCA notices for the tweets in question, from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) alleging infringement of copyrighted works owned by Sony Music Entertainment. It also cited the original works based on which the notices were sent.

It referenced the tweets in question where Prasad’s tweet violated DMCA for AR Rahman’s Maa Tujhe Salaam and Tharoor’s tweet for Boney M’s Rasputin.

"Upon receipt of the notice, Twitter complied with its copyright policy, disabled access to the allegedly infringing videos, and temporarily locked the accounts. When the account holders acknowledged their understanding of our copyright policy, the accounts were immediately unlocked," it added.

It further said that an email with a full copy of the DMCA notices was also sent to the users.

Apart from reasons, the Panel also sought understanding of Twitter’s SOPs for blocking accounts and whether these were followed for Prasad’s and Tharoor’s tweets.

To which Twitter responded that repeated offenders may have their accounts suspended “under appropriate circumstances”, but the company also takes into account retractions and counter-notices. It also said that fraudulent, incomplete and non-copyright notices are not considered for action.

In regards to SOPs for actions it listed the following: removal of copyrighted material, disabling access to copyrighted material, full copy of complaint (including details of the reporter), and details about counter-notice.

As per Twitter, the site saw a 15 percent jump in DMCA takedown notices in January to June 2020, which affected 87 percent more accounts during the period.