One of India’s prominent news agencies, ANI’s Twitter account was suspended on Saturday, for “violation of the minimum age restriction”, the social media platform informed the company in an official mail.
The Twitter account of NDTV was also suspended, however, the reason for the same is not known yet. The official handles of both the news companies showed that the accounts didn't exist.
In its mail to ANI, the microblogging platform led by Elon Musk said: “In order to create a Twitter account, you must be at least 13 years old. Twitter has determined that you don't meet these age requirements, so your account has been locked and will be removed from Twitter."
ANI editor Smita Prakash spotlighted the glitch on her personal Twitter handle. “Our gold tick was taken away, substituted with blue tick and now locked out.”
So those who follow @ANI bad news, @Twitter has locked out India’s largest news agency which has 7.6 million followers and sent this mail - under 13 years of age! Our gold tick was taken away, substituted with blue tick and now locked out. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/sm8e765zr4
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) April 29, 2023
ANI has a presence in more than 100 bureaus located across India, South Asia, and other parts of the world, according to its website. Meanwhile, NDTV's official Twitter account was one of India’s most-followed English news handles on the platform, the company claimed, requesting Twitter to "help restore it".
The glitch amassed criticism from several public figures, politicians and journalists. Some even speculated if it was a consequence of an error made by the pages' admin.
Absurd decision by @twitter. Such arbitrary action against a news agency is bound to invite tough regulatory response https://t.co/bZWa8IWiuB
— Shashi Shekhar Vempati शशि शेखर (@shashidigital) April 29, 2023
Crazy! The biggest news agency in India is being treated as a pre-teen??? @elonmusk seems the artificial is more potent than the intelligence in whatever AI is being used by Twitter https://t.co/WJnA2s1oSA
— sushant sareen (@sushantsareen) April 29, 2023
Dear @Twitter , ANI is India's leading news agency and many of us depend upon the tweets by ANI for the news or confirmation of a news. Kindly have the account restored asap.@TwitterSupport @verified @ANI https://t.co/cdJoefMsru
— Tehseen Poonawalla Official (@tehseenp) April 29, 2023
Hey @smitaprakash, we had the same happen to HTCity’s handle. Do check if someone in your admin team changed the date of creation of account while applying for gold tick
— Sonal Kalra (@sonalkalra) April 29, 2023
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