New Delhi, May 21: The government has objected to Twitter using 'manipulated media' tag for tweets on an alleged Congress toolkit used to target the Centre over its COVID-19 handling, sources said.

The government has asked Twitter to remove the 'manipulated media' tag as the matter is pending before law enforcement agency, and made it clear that the social media platform cannot pass judgment when the issue is under investigation.

Investigation will determine the veracity of the content and not Twitter, it has asserted while asking the microblogging platform not to interfere in the investigation process.

According to sources, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has written a strong communication to the global team of Twitter registering its objection to the 'manipulated media' tag on tweets made by some political leaders with reference to the toolkit allegedly created to undermine, derail and demean the efforts of the government against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its communication to Twitter, the ministry has stated that a complaint has already been made by one of the concerned parties before the local law enforcement agency questioning the veracity of the toolkit and the same is under investigation.

While the local law enforcement agency is undertaking the investigation, Twitter has unilaterally drawn a conclusion in this matter and arbitrarily tagged it as 'manipulated media', government sources said.

Such tagging by Twitter appears pre-judged, prejudiced and a deliberate attempt to colour the investigation by local law enforcement agency, the sources pointed out.

The ministry has termed such unilateral action by Twitter as an effort to influence the fair investigation process and a clear overreach, which is totally unwarranted.

The ministry has further stated in its communication that Twitter unilaterally chose to go ahead and designate certain tweets as 'manipulated', pending investigation by the law enforcement agency.

Such action not only dilutes the credibility of Twitter as a neutral and unbiased platform facilitating exchange of views by the users but also puts a question mark on Twitter's status as an "intermediary", they said.

This comes in the backdrop of Twitter labelling as 'manipulated media' a tweet by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on the alleged toolkit prepared by the Congress to target the Modi government.

Twitter says it "may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated."

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued contempt notices to a litigant and his lawyers for making "scurrilous allegations" against a sitting judge of the Telangana High Court in their plea.

The top court, while issuing the show cause notices to the petitioner and his lawyers, refused to allow withdrawal of the petition, and said, “We cannot permit judges to be out in a box and allow any litigant to make such allegations against a judge. Here we were trying to protect lawyers.”

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a transfer plea filed by petitioner N Peddi Raju filed through advocate-on-record Ritesh Patil.

The petition involved a case in which Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had received relief from a high court in a matter under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“Here we were trying to protect lawyers, but this kind of conduct cannot be condoned,” the bench, which earlier heard another suo motu case pertaining to summoning of lawyers by the ED for rendering legal advice, said.

“Scurrilous allegations have been made against the sitting judge of Telangana High Court. It has been held (in a judgement) that it is not only a litigant but also a lawyer who signs (the petition) is guilty of contempt of court.

“We thus issue notice to Peddi Raju as well as the lawyers … and the AoR. They are directed to state why contempt should not be initiated against them. Notice returnable on August 11,” the CJI said.

A counsel sought the liberty to withdraw the remarks after the court expressed strong displeasure. However, the bench dismissed the request.

“File apology …we will see whether to consider or not. We will see the apology is genuine or not. When we expressed displeasure at the language, liberty was sought to withdraw. We dismissed the request,” the bench said.

The case stems from the Telangana High Court's decision to quash a criminal case registered against the chief minister under the SC/ST Act.

The petitioner later approached the top court with a transfer plea, alleging bias and impropriety on the part of the high court judge.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared on behalf of the chief minister.