VIJAYAWADA: Responding to the mention of US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in an official email request to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) seeking action against posts of some YSRCP activists, journalists and individuals, which had triggered a controversy, Guntur police have clarified that the ‘FBI’ term that crept into the mail was a ‘clerical error’.
Speaking to TNIE, a senior police official on condition of anonymity, explained that the ‘FBI’ reference occurred while composing the request sent to X, and was an ‘inadvertent mistake’.
The senior police official maintained that there was no intention to misrepresent the identity of the Andhra Pradesh police.
“The IT core team, which is tasked to monitor social media accounts, has found certain posts were fake and unverified. In order to regulate those fake and unverified posts in the social media platforms, the team reported to X seeking action, and might have selected ‘FBI’ mistakenly from the drop down box, which led to the controversy. Andhra Pradesh police did not intend to misrepresent the identity of the department,” he maintained.
The controversy surfaced after YSRCP activist Nagarjuna Yadav, who operates the X handle @ImYanamala, received a notification from X on July 28 stating that three of his posts had been flagged by law enforcement authorities for allegedly violating the Indian law. The X communication stated that the request had been made by the “FBI”.
The posts alleged irregularities in the District Selection Committee (DSC) recruitment, and criticised the handling of the recruitment, besides questioning the NDA government over the alleged lack of transparency.
Guntur police explanation ‘raises questions’
One of the posts reportedly called for a protest by unemployed youth, while another questioned why HRD Minister Nara Lokesh had not resigned over the alleged irregularities in the DSC. A third urged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to remove Lokesh from the State Cabinet.
When Yadav approached X seeking details of the authority behind the request, the social media platform in its response on September 13, clarified that the request had actually originated from the official Guntur Police email address, guntururbansp-ap@gov.in. According to the response, the request was submitted by a person identifying himself as Inspector AV Brahmam, while the organisation field carried the name “FBI”.
However, the Guntur police explanation has raised questions over the verification and authorisation process followed before official requests are submitted to social media platforms. It is learnt that police indeed mentioned “FBI” in their request to X to ensure a response, as their previous appeals to take down various posts on X and Instagram were allegedly ignored.