A hashtag celebrating the revival of a suspended account took Twitter by storm on November 27. ‘#TrueIndologyIsBack’ was used to welcome a handle by the same name, permanently suspended by Twitter twice in the past. Among those delighted by his unapproved return were members and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Please follow new account of @TheTrueIndology — Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) November 27, 2020 Friends, @TheTrueIndology is back 😊💪 Plz follow 🙏 Jai Hind 🇮🇳 — Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) November 27, 2020 TrueIndology is infamous for routinely sharing fictitious historical claims advocating Hindu supremacy over other faiths, especially Islam. He retained the pseudonym ‘TrueIndology’ upon his comeback for the third time but disclosed a photograph and surname. His previous account which was suspended by Twitter was @TIinExile. The propaganda account now goes by @BharadwajSpeaks. Twitter permanently suspends accounts that violate its rules in order to ensure that the platform provides a safe space for healthy discourse. Furthermore, it prohibits these users from reappearing on the platform using alternate accounts. According to its policy, accounts that promote violence, harassment, abuse, among a plethora of other red flags, are permanently removed. “Permanently suspending an account will remove it from the global view, and the violator will not be allowed to create new accounts,” says Twitter. While it may be difficult to keep a track of all the accounts making a comeback on Twitter with changed usernames, the argument does not hold in the case of TrueIndology. For starters, #TrueIndologyIsBack was the topmost trending hashtag when the new account was made. Bharadwaj also kept the username similar to the original in the initial days. In a matter of a few weeks, TrueIndology 3.0 has managed to gain over 1.7 lakh followers (as of this writing). This account is one among the many suspended handles to have returned on the platform. Alt News sent Twitter multiple emails, messages and tweets informing the tech company of these handles (also listed below in the report). But none of our queries was answered. Twitter has failed to enforce its policy for suspended accounts and overlooked several handles that continue to exist and promote sectarian propaganda. 1. Twitter had suspended @pokershash, an account that used to enjoy the support of top BJP brass. Why have @Twitter suspended the account of @pokershash ? #BringBackPokerShash — Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) March 27, 2020 Below is a glimpse of the content he used to frequently share. That picture of condoms dumped on a roadside was found on several Vietnamese websites from three years ago. It has nothing to do with protests against the Citizenship law at Shaheen Bagh. Twitter suspended @pokershash for targetted harassment of AAP spokesperson Preeti Menon. But he is now back with the handle ‘@BefittingFacts’ already gaining 46,000 followers. On August 29, he had quote-tweeted a user talking about the weight loss journey of @pokershash and explained how he achieved his target. Losing weight without work out is a dream. Diet control not only helped to lose weight but it also helped to survive lockdown without craving for junk food. It was all possible because of @BeMyHealth and @IHarjeetR PS: Cropping painting of Mamata Didi is a criminal offence 😡😡😡 https://t.co/X6tkUHNlD0 — Facts (@BefittingFacts) August 29, 2020 He still operates his Instagram account under the pseudonym @pokershash where he regularly shares @BefittingFacts tweets. 2. Twitter had also permanently suspended two accounts (@vibhor_anand and @ivibhoranand) of Delhi-based man Vibhor Anand who claims to be an advocate. He now operates with the username @OfficeofVA, of which he also made an announcement. Last month, a sessions court in Mumbai had granted bail to Anand for “for allegedly posting defamatory tweets against State Ministers of Maharashtra and spreading fake theories about the Sushant Singh Rajput case”, reported Bar and Bench. His lawyer argued that Anand was “made to believe” that Rajput and his former manager Disha Salian were murdered by watching television news, particularly Republic Bharat. In 2018, Anand had posted a series of tweets appealing to those who felt “cheated” by activist Shehla Rashid who crowdfunded money for the Kathua rape victim. He claimed to take legal action against her for embezzlement. There isn’t an update on what exactly happened with the ‘legal action’ but the assertion that Rashid pocketed the funds is false. Alt News’s detailed report on the disinformation can be read here. 3. To anyone well-versed with the misinformation ecosystem on Twitter, @squintneon needs no introduction.
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Twitter fails to enforce policy for suspended users as many pro-BJP accounts reappear
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