Twitter Suspends Over 550 Accounts After Tractor Rally in Delhi Turned Violent

NEW DELHI: Twitter on Wednesday said it has suspended more than 550 accounts involved in spam and platform manipulation as the farmers' tractor rally turned violent in Delhi on the 72nd Republic Day.

The farmers took over the Red Fort and waved farmer union flags from its walls. They even raised farmer union flags as well as a flag with a Sikh religious symbol from a flagpole.

A Twitter spokesperson told media that the company has taken strong steps to protect the dialogue on the platform from attempts to provoke violence, abuse and threats that could cause the risk of offline harm by blocking certain terms that violate their rules for trends.

"Using a combination of technology and human review, Twitter worked at scale and took action on hundreds of Tweets that have been in violation of the Twitter Rules and suspended more than 550 accounts engaged in spam and platform manipulation," the spokesperson informed.

The Delhi Police on Sunday had warned that 308 Twitter handles have been generated to create confusion over the tractor rally proposed by protesting farmers on Republic Day.

Dependra Pathak, Special Commissioner Police, Intelligence, Delhi Police informed the media that they have been getting inputs from intelligence and various other agencies about a threat to incite trouble in the tractor rally. He claimed that about 308 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan to create chaos.

The microblogging platform said they were monitoring the situation closely and remain vigilant, "and strongly encourage those on the service to report anything they believe is in violation of the rules."

86 policemen were injured in the violence as farmers reached Delhi with their tractors ahead of the scheduled time agreed upon with the police authorities of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. A farmer was also killed yesterday after his tractor overturned, according to the police.

Delhi Police have filed a total of 22 FIRs far in connection with the violence seen during the farmers' tractor rally, officials said on Wednesday.

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