The Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Monday, May 24 sent a notice to Twitter India in connection with the probe into a complaint about the alleged ‘COVID Toolkit’, asking it to share the information based on which it had classified a related tweet by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as “manipulated media”, officials said.
Two police teams also descended on the microblogging site’s offices in Lado Sarai in Delhi and in Gurgaon yesterday evening.
“The Delhi police team went to the Twitter office to serve a notice to Twitter as a part of a routine process. This was necessitated as we wanted to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice, as replies by Twitter India MD have been very ambiguous,” Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal said.
Last week, Twitter labelled as “manipulated media” a tweet by BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra on the alleged ‘toolkit’. Twitter says it “may label Tweets that include media- videos, audio, and images that have been deceptively altered or fabricated”.
Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal said the Delhi Police is inquiring into a complaint in the toolkit matter.
“It appears that Twitter has some information which is not known to us and on the basis of which they have classified it (Sambit Patra’s tweet) as such. This information is relevant to the inquiry. The Special Cell, which is conducting the inquiry, wants to find out the truth. Twitter, which has claimed to know the underlying truth, should clarify,” he said.
The notice sent earlier to Twitter India MD reads whereas a preliminary enquiry is being conducted pertaining to the ‘Toolkit’ which is allegedly released by the Indian National Congress and whereas during the course of the investigation, it has come to our knowledge that you are acquainted with the facts of the matter and are in possession of information with regard to the same.”
The Delhi police in the notice requested Twitter India MD to be present in the DCP office for the purpose of investigation with all the relevant documents on May 22 at 1 PM. However, Twitter did not wish to offer any comment.
The government had earlier asked Twitter to remove the ‘manipulated media’ tag as the matter is pending before law enforcement agency, and made it clear that the social media platform cannot pass judgment when the issue is under investigation.
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