Tick Off: Twitter ‘Unverifies’ Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s Handle

New Delhi: Amidst the ongoing standoff between Twitter and the government, the micro-blogging site on Saturday briefly removed the ‘blue tick’ or verified badge from the personal handle of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

The blue tick was restored within a few hours, reportedly when the Vice President’s office raised objections.

Government sources also talked about tough action, saying “Twitter wants to test India’s patience”, NDTV reported.

The verified status had been removed from @MVenkaiahNaidu for “inactivity”. “The personal account of Venkaiah Naidu was inactive for six months and the blue badge has gone,” ANI quoted an official from Naidu’s office as saying.

The last tweet from the account was on July 23, 2020.

Government sources, however, called it an outrageous act against the “Number 2” constitutional head of the country. They pointed out that the accounts of former Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj had stayed verified long after their death in 2019.

Twitter’s action of “unverifying” the account of Naidu, a former BJP president, is controversial in the middle of its confrontation with the government over the new digital rules for social media sites.