'Congress Toolkit' tweets by BJP leaders continue to be labelled as 'manipulated media'

Tweets related to 'Congress Toolkit' from verified BJP accounts continue to be labelled as 'manipulated media', even after the central government asked Twitter to remove the tag.

Tweets related to 'Congress Toolkit' from verified BJP accounts continue to be labelled as 'manipulated media', even after the central government asked Twitter to remove the tag.

The tweets can be seen on the feed of at least five accounts, such as Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, party’s national social media in-charge Priti Gandhi and national spokesperson Sambit Patra, reported The Hindu. Some other BJP leaders who have shared the 'Congress toolkit', include BJP co-in charge of Andhra Pradesh Sunil Deodhar, party’s media panellist Charu Pragya and Delhi general secretary Kuljeet Singh Chahal.

These leaders in their tweets have shared documents alleging the use of a toolkit by  Congress to hurt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image.

On May 24, Delhi Police also sent a notice to Twitter seeking an explanation for flagging Sambit Patra's tweet as "manipulated media". The special cell of Delhi Police has issued the notice, ANI reported.

On May 21, Twitter has been asked by the Indian government to remove the "manipulated media" tag from the tweets.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in a "strong communication" sent to Twitter, has asked the company to remove the flags on toolkit-related tweets as an inquiry would reveal whether it is manipulated or not, The Hindu reported citing a ministry source.

However, the microblogging website has not removed the label. According to Twitter's 'synthetic and manipulated media policy', it can label tweets that include media that have been deceptively altered or fabricated.

“In order to determine if media have been significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated, we may use our own technology or receive reports through partnerships with third parties. In situations where we are unable to reliably determine if media have been altered or fabricated, we may not take action to label or remove them,” the company policy states.

Experts say that the government does not have the authority to ask Twitter to remove the tag, and such a move has only raised concerns of censorship regarding the government, reported The Hindu.