In a move welcomed by many on social media, Twitter permanently suspended the account of actress Kangana Ranaut who is notoriously known to post vitriolic posts. The act came following the actor’s recent angry tweet over the Bengal election results where the TMC swept victory.
Twitter labeled the ‘KanganaTeam’ account as one showcasing “hateful conduct and abusive behavior”. The social media platform added that the account violated its policies several times in the past as well.
Kangana remained unapologetic of her tweets as she went ahead to counter accuse Twitter of racial bias. “Twitter has only proved my point they’re Americans and by birth, a white person feels entitled to enslave a brown person, they want to tell you what to think, speak or do. I have many platforms I can use to raise my voice, including my own art in the form of cinema,” she was quoted saying by ANI.
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She added, “My heart goes out to the people of this nation who have been tortured, enslaved, and censored for thousands of years, and still, there is no end to the suffering.”
It all started after she posted a controversial tweet that sounded like a call to ignite violence. In her tweet, the 34-year-old actress appeared to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “tame” TMC’s Mamata Banerjee through his “Virat Roop” of “early 2000s” in West Bengal. This absurd post was a reaction to journalist and BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta’s tweet regarding the aftermath of the Bengal elections declared on Sunday. He spoke about the alleged violence and ruckus that took place following it. Both the leading parties, TMC and BJP, have been accusing each other of inciting the riot.
Soon after the actor tweeted, social media started flooding with demands to take strict action against her as she has a history of posting acrimonious tweets.
Explaining the reason for taking down Kangana’s account, a Twitter spokesperson said, “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy,” while adding that the rules are the same for everyone without any impartiality.
“As explained in our abusive behavior policy, you may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.”
Kangana Ranaut took to Instagram after being banned from Twitter and posted a rant video. In her bitter verbal attack, she spoke about “disturbing news, videos and photos from Bengal of people being murdered, gang-raped and their houses being burnt” while calling for a President’s rule in Bengal.
She now joins her sister Rangoli Chandel who was suspended from Twitter following her provocative and hateful tweets. She had sparked massive outrage for her anti-Tablighi Jamaat posts, blaming them for spreading covid.
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The development on Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account front came as a breath of fresh air to many celebrities including Kubbra Sait, Richa Chaddha, and Swara Bhasker. Kubbra Sait responded to the move and tweeted, “Amen! I was in a mental state of tripping her with my left foot if I ever met her. But, this is way better. I hope a permanent relief. Social media can be better without her.”
Celebrity fashion designers Anand Bhushan and Rimzim Dadu also denounced Kangana’s hateful speech and pledged not to associate with her in the future. They also added that they will be taking down all social media posts where they featured her in their work.
