After removing the blue tick/verified badge for the account of the Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu, Twitter on the 5th of June, removed the blue verification badge from the personal account of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat.
The incident was reported hours after Twitter removed the blue verification badge from the personal handle of Mr. Venkaiah Naidu. However, after outrage and criticism, the verification badge was restored in hours.
The Twitter account was opened in 2019 and Mr. Mohan Bhagwat has 2,00,000 followers and has zero tweets.
Besides Mohan Bhagwat, the blue tick was also removed for the joint general secretaries Krishna Gopal and Arun Kumar, the Former General Secretary Suresh “Bhaiyyaji” Joshi, and the current General Secretary “sampark pramukh” Anirudh Deshpande.
While Mohan Bhagwat’s verification badge was removed today, other workers’ badges were removed in March 2021. The functionary of the RSS, who wished to be anonymous said, “If they claim it was done because the accounts were inactive, they should’ve informed us. There has been no communication from their side.”
Meanwhile, as per the criteria of the microblogging site Twitter:
The account must represent or be associated with a prominently recognized individual or brand.
Accounts that are verified include those of key government officials and offices, including heads of state, elected officials, appointed ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, and official spokespeople.
To qualify for a verified badge, there must be a public reference to the account on an official government or party site or publication, or multiple references in news media.
According to the site’s terms, the blue tick or verified status may be removed any time, without notice.
Stay tuned for further updates.
