<p><strong>New Delhi:</strong> Amid the controversy over the new IT rules and the government seeking a response from Twitter, Facebook, and Whatsapp about failing to comply with the new rules, Twitter on Thursday said it was worried about the safety of its staff in India.</p> <p>The statement by Twitter comes days after police visited its office as part of a probe related to the social media firm's tagging of certain posts as manipulated.</p> <p><a href="https://ift.tt/3oWtEqR style="color: #e03e2d;"><strong>Also Read|Facebook, WhatsApp And Twitter To Be Banned In India? Here's What The New IT Rules Indicate</strong></span></a></p> <p>"Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve," a Twitter spokeswoman said, as quoted by Reuters.</p> <p>Without directly referring to the Delhi police action, Twitter said: "we, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global Terms of Service."</p> <p>This is also Twitter's first official response regarding the new IT rules which were announced on February 25 and the social media intermediaries operating in India were given three months' time to comply.</p> <h3><strong>Delhi police visit Twitter offices over &lsquo;toolkit case&rsquo;</strong></h3> <p>On May 18, BJP leader Sambit Patra tweeted an alleged ' Congress Toolkit' claiming that the opposition party is using it to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</p> <p>However, Congress termed the BJP's spokesperson's tweet as fake and&nbsp; AICC research department head Rajeev Gowda and social media department head Rohan Gupta filed a complaint with the Delhi Police against BJP leaders, accusing them of &ldquo;forging the letterhead of AICC Research Department and thereafter printing false and fabricated content on the same&hellip; with the intent to create communal disharmony and civil unrest in the country&hellip; escalating violence, fuelling hate and spreading fake news&rdquo;.</p> <p>After which Twitter tagged some of the posts on this alleged Congress &lsquo;toolkit&rsquo; as &ldquo;manipulated media&rdquo;, including that of Patra, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) wrote to the social media platform&nbsp;objecting to it.</p> <p>In a letter seeking that the tag is removed, the ministry has said the move by Twitter appears &ldquo;prejudged&rdquo;, &ldquo;prejudiced&rdquo;, and &ldquo;arbitrary&rdquo;.</p> <p>&ldquo;This action not only dilutes the credibility of Twitter as a neutral and unbiased platform facilitating the exchange of views by the users but also puts a question mark on the status of Twitter as an intermediary,&rdquo; says the letter.</p> <p>The Delhi police on Monday visited the Twitter office to serve a notice to Twitter's India head for tagging a tweet of BJP spokesperson as "manipulated media".</p> <p>Twitter issued a statement that it is concerned for the &ldquo;safety of its employees in India&rdquo;.</p> <p>&ldquo;To keep our service available, we will strive to comply with applicable law in India. But, just as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law,&rdquo; it said.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

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