With the Congress party accusing Twitter of enforcing double standards, this is not the first time that the platform has found itself mired in a political controversy concerning content regulation. A week after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account was locked, the party said that its primary Twitter account along with the accounts of 6 senior party leaders and multiple volunteers has been locked by the social media platform. MediaNama has confirmed with Twitter that the accounts of the INC, and members Randeep Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal have been suspended. For atleast 4 other leaders, MediaNama has viewed screenshots of Twitter's notice to them. Why it matters? The latest development means that India's most prominent opposition party will now have a splintered presence on social media. Congress' Twitter handle has 8.4 million followers and former party president Rahul Gandhi's account has over 19 million followers. Gandhi's account was locked last week after he tweeted a picture of himself with the parents of an alleged rape victim, which was later taken down by Twitter citing a violation of its rules. The tweet also invited a legal notice from the National Commission for Protection of Children's Rights which said that it violated the victim's privacy and violated provisions under the Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The controversial IT Rules 2021 also require social media intermediaries like Twitter to voluntarily remove any content violating any Indian law, especially those relating to child abuse. Twitter's actions reek of double standards: Congress…
