Twitter locks news agency ANI's handle: Here's why
What's the story
Twitter on Saturday reportedly locked the account of one of India's largest news agencies, Asian News International (ANI), stating it was less than 13 years of age, violating the platform's rules.
Sharing the news on the microblogging site, ANI editor Smita Prakash said, "Twitter has locked out India's largest news agency which has 7.6 million followers, and sent this mail—under 13 years of age!"
Twitter Post
Check out Prakash's Twitter post
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
More information
ANI's Twitter page says the account 'doesn't exist'
Moreover, ANI's Twitter page—at the time of writing—shows the message, "This account doesn't exist."
Prakash also shared the screenshot of the email sent by Twitter, which read, "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."
About ANI
ANI is one of South Asia's leading news agencies
According to ANI's website, it is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency, with more than 100 bureaus worldwide.
With 7.6 million followers, its account was recognized as an official organization on Twitter. The social media company earlier assigned it a gold tick, which denotes a verified business account.
Reportedly, users have been reporting several issues related to Twitter since billionaire Elon Musk's takeover.