Twitter has restored the accounts of many politicians from India's opposition party. They were suspended when Rahul Gandhi tweeted a picture of himself with the parents and children of a girl who had been raped in New Delhi. Gandhi had tweeted support for the family of the girls, stating that they deserved justice. Others had also shared his tweet.
Indian law, however, prohibits the identification of victims of sexual assault and children. A notice on the Lumen database stated that India's National Commission for Protection of Child Rights asked Twitter to take action. In an email to The Verge, a Twitter spokesperson stated that Gandhi had submitted a copy the authorization letter from the persons in the image to India Grievance Channel and that his account was restored. The tweet in question has been shared over 15,000 times and will not be visible worldwide.
Twitter has appointed its grievance office earlier in the month to ensure compliance with Indian internet regulations governing social media platforms. It's been a turbulent few months between Twitter, India's government and Twitter. In June, the government warned Twitter it could face unintended consequences for not following the rules. In July, India informed Twitter it had lost its legal immunity to users posts due to its non-compliance. The government declared that Twitter had complied with the rules on August 10.
Indian officials have also criticised Twitter's moderation policies. They raided Twitters offices at Delhi and Guragon in May, after the platform claimed that it had been used to manipulate media. Twitter also removed some hashtags from Twitter in February. These included ones that linked to farmers protests. It also censored any tweets that criticised India's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
