Six fake twitter accounts of PMO blocked

Six Twitter accounts, having resemblance to the prime minister's official account 'PMOIndia', have been closed down after objectionable content was detected on these.

Sources said the PMO had asked the Cyber Security Cell of the Department of Information and Technology to block these accounts as these could be mistaken as the official account of the PMO and have serious ramifications.

"These accounts contained certain content having communal overtones and it could be dangerous," a source said. Earlier, the PMO had asked the Twitter to shut down these accounts but after it was not done, the matter was referred to the Cyber Security Cell, the sources said.

The matter is about two months old, they said. The particular action by the PMO is separate from the recent action initiated by the home ministry against some internet portals after some of them were found to be helping in rumour mongering about threats to people from northeast in various other parts of the country.

The PMO has initiated the action after taking relevant legal opinion and going through the respective clauses of the Information and Technology Act.

The authentic twitter account of the PM Manmohan Singh's office is 'PMOIndia' and it states that it is the 'official twitter account of the Prime Minster's Office. Pages may be archived under IT Act'.

The account is operational and tweeting since Jan 23 this year and is being operated from the national capital.