New Delhi: In a major setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Twitter tagged Chief Spokesperson Sambit Patra’s ‘Toolkit’ Tweet as ‘Manipulated Media.’
Twitter in its policies section said, “…we may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated. In addition, you may not share deceptively altered media on Twitter in ways that mislead or deceive people about the media’s authenticity where threats to physical safety or other serious harm may result.”
Friends look at the #CongressToolKit in extending help to the needy during the Pandemic!
More of a PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” & “Influencers” than a soulful endeavour.
Read for yourselves the agenda of the Congress:#CongressToolKitExposed pic.twitter.com/3b7c2GN0re— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) May 18, 2021
This comes after Congress complained to Twitter that the ensemble of pages, circulated as the party’s ‘toolkit’ by top BJP leaders, was fake. Earlier, fact-checking website AltNews had also published a comprehensive report establishing that the document shared by BJP’s top leadership was created on a forged Congress letterhead and shared on social media.
The BJP also said that since the ‘toolkit’ attempted to singularly blame the pilgrims who attended the Kumbh Mela for being super-spreaders, and absolve those who attended Eid gatherings, this proved the Congress’s ‘anti-Hindu’ bias and intent to cause communal disharmony and civil unrest in the country.
‘Shame Hindu, Blame Hindu’ tactic of “provisional” Janeudhari Rahul Gandhi … blame Kumbh to shame Hindus …
बिल्ली भी कुछ घर छोड़ के मुँह मारती है … अपनी दादी का धर्म तो बख्श देते जनाब।#CongressToolkitExposed
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) May 18, 2021
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BJP leaders who amplified the hashtag #CongressToolKitExposed are:
BJP leaders who amplified the hashtag #CongressToolKitExposed were party president J.P. Nadda, Union ministers Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Anurag Thakur and Pralhad Joshi, Uttarahand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat, Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh, MPs Rajyavardhan Rathore, Tejasvi Surya, Rahul Kaswan, P.C. Mohan, Shobha Karandlaje, Manoj Kotak and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, and BJP national general secretary B.L. Santhosh.
Congress also wrote to Twitter, demanding the social media giant remove those tweets and permanently suspend the accounts of those who shared the fake toolkit. The letter said that top BJP functionaries had used Twitter as a platform to disseminate “false information” which could “cause social unrest in the country, amidst the current pandemic.”
“…the said persons (BJP leaders including its president J.P.Nadda) are habitual of manufacturing forged content and misusing the Twitter platform for disseminating the same,” the letter written by the head of Congress’ research team Rajeev Gowda and its social media team’s chief Rohan Gupta said.
We’ve formally written to @Twitter seeking suspension of Twitter accounts of BJP leaders who are indulging in spreading forged documents attributing to Congress.
While an FIR has already been lodged, the independent fact-checkers too have blown the lid off BJP’s propaganda. pic.twitter.com/DeVUO585l3
— Rohan Gupta (@rohanrgupta) May 20, 2021
Also, right-wing influencer Shefali Vadiya’s tweet containing the same content was also tagged as “manipulated media”.
Another #CongressToolKit inspired move? #CongressToolkitExposed pic.twitter.com/EL6dkZYeKf
— Shefali Vaidya. (@ShefVaidya) May 18, 2021
