Twitter removes blue tick from VP Venkaiah Naidu's personal handle

New Delhi: Twitter on Saturday removed the blue tick, which lets people know that an account on the social media platform is authentic, from the personal handle of vice president M Venkaiah Naidu. However, the official account of the vice president of India, @VPSecratariat, which is run by the vice president's secretariat, still has a blue tick next to it.

"Twitter has withdrawn blue verified badge from the personal handle of vice president of India, M Venkaiah Naidu," news agency ANI quoted the vice president's office as saying.

Naidu's personal account, the last tweet from which was posted on July 23, 2020, has 1.3 million followers. The vice president of India's account, on the other hand, has more than 931,000 followers.

Twitter also removed blue verification tick from the accounts of various Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), including its joint secretaries Krishna Gopal and Arun Kumar. However, the official handle of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat continues to be verified. Other RSS leaders to lose the verification badge are former general secretary Suresh "Bhaiyyaji" Joshi, former joint general secretary Suresh Soni and the current Sampark Pramukh Aniruddha Deshpande.

According to Twitter, the blue verified badge on lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. To receive the blue badge, the account must be authentic, notable, and active. However, according to rules, Twitter can remove blue verified badge and verified status of a Twitter account at any time and without notice if an account changes its username (@handle) or an account becomes inactive or incomplete or if the owner of the account is no longer for which position they were initially verified and do not otherwise meet our criteria for verification since leaving such position.

Additionally, verified badges can also be removed from those accounts that are found to be in severe or repeated violation of the Twitter.

Saturday's development comes at a time when Twitter is already engaged in a face-off with the central government over the new IT rules, announced on February 25 this year. The Ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has asked the microblogging company to "stop beating around the bush" and "comply with the laws of the land".