Twitter has locked Asian News International’s (ANI) account because it does not meet the minimum age requirement to use the microblogging platform, according to ANI Editor Smita Prakash on Saturday. The news agency’s Twitter handle displays the message ‘This account doesn’t exist’.
Prakash shared a screenshot of a Twitter email informing him that ANI’s handle had been locked.
“To create a Twitter account, you must be at least 13 years old,” the email states. Because Twitter has determined that you do not meet these age requirements, your account has been locked and will be deactivated.”
Smita Prakash tweeted shortly after the ANI Twitter account vanished, “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! We lost our gold tick, got a blue tick in its place, and are now locked out.
According to its website, South Asia’s leading multimedia news agency has more than 100 bureaus in India, South Asia, and around the world.
The NDTV Twitter account appears to have been locked as well.
Several issues with Twitter have been reported by users since Elon Musk took over the social media company and slashed staff, raising concerns about the service’s viability with fewer engineers.
