Twitter has not shut India operations; `imposter ANI' handle posts false information

A tweet allegedly posted by the ANI News Agency went viral on social media.

By ABINAYA KUMAR  Published on  28 May 2021 3:29 AM GMT
Twitter has not shut India operations; `imposter ANI handle posts false information

HYDERABAD: A tweet allegedly posted by the ANI News Agency went viral on social media.

"Twitter will stop operations in India w.e.f 26th May 00:00 hrs. Use of any VPN, third-party API will be treated as a criminal offense under section. 437," reads the tweet.


FACT CHECK:

The Twitter account was an imposter account and the viral accusations made by the Twitter account were False.

Fake Twitter account of ANI


Original Twitter account of ANI


Firstly, Newsmeter checked the official '@ANI' account. ANI hadn't tweeted any such information on its official handle. It was also noticed that the username of ANI in the viral image was not the same as the official username.

A few hours later, after being called out by several Twitter users the account changed its name to 'PARODY ACCOUNT', and changed its handle to '@parodyakkount'. This clearly indicates that this isn't the official ANI account.


.

NewsMeter reviewed the information posted by the imposter account.

May 26, has already passed and clearly, Twitter has not shut down operations in India. The mention of 'Section 437' was completely out of context.

Section 437 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, lays down that the accused does not have the right to apply for bail in non-bailable offenses. It is the discretion of the court to grant bail in case of non-bailable offenses; this clearly has nothing to do with the apparent offense mentioned in the claim.

Therefore, the tweet is not from the official account of ANI News Agency, and neither the information is true.

Claim Review:ANI claims Twitter has shut India operations
Claimed By:Social Media Users
Claim Reviewed By:NewsMeter
Claim Source:Social Media
Claim Fact Check:False
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