NewsClick’s X handle suspended after BJP MP makes ‘Chinese link’ allegation in Lok Sabha

Account was restored on Sunday night after over 36 hours

Pheroze L. Vincent,  TT,  New Delhi, 14.08.23 : The X (formerly Twitter) handle of newsclick.in was suspended on Saturday, five days after a BJP MP named the news portal in his speech in the Lok Sabha as part of the “tukde-tukde gang”, citing a report in The New York Times on the links that one of its investors has with China.

The account was restored on Sunday night after over 36 hours.

A NewsClick spokesperson told The Telegraph that the suspension came to light on Saturday afternoon. “We have not received any email intimating us about the suspension and we do not know why it has been done. We have filed an appeal on the platform itself and are awaiting a response.”

Other social media pages of NewsClick and its sister concerns remained accessible. The X handle — @newsclickin — showed the text “Account suspended” and “Twitter suspends accounts that violate Twitter Rules”. None of its tweets were visible.

This newspaper sent an email to the social media company asking about the suspension, and is yet to get a response.

Salil Tripathi, board member of free speech watchdog PEN International, tweeted: “So under @elonmusk the great champion of free speech, @twitter has suspended @newsclickin. True, the @nytimes story is deeply reported and researched, but where is the investigation or case which led the Indian government to seek suspension? What ‘rules’ has Newsclick broken?”

The Times report is on investor Neville Roy Singham, a Sri Lankan American based in Shanghai who has invested in several media companies across the world. It said: “...The authorities in India raided a news organisation tied to Mr Singham during a crackdown on the press, accusing it of having ties to the Chinese government but offering no proof…. In New Delhi, corporate filings show, Mr Singham’s network financed a news site, NewsClick, that sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points.”