Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology asked Twitter executives under what authority they placed a temporary ban on Shah’s handle.
Twitter officials explained that it was because the social media site’s software “inadvertently” caught a “copyright violation” in a photo posted on the handle, sources in the panel said
The officials also pointed out that the temporary ban was corrected within half an hour and Shah’s account was restored.
The Twitter representatives, along with officials of Facebook, were meeting the committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on safeguarding the rights of citizens and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms.
The panel members also asked them what criteria was followed when the social media sites decided to ban the account of Donald Trump a few days before his term as US president ended . The account was blocked shortly after Trump incited a mob to storm the Capitol Hill when the Congress was certifying Joe Biden‘s election.
Twitter representatives replied that they have strict rules on this and that they remove content which is seen as likely to cause violence.