Twitter blocks handle of 'India's largest news agency' ANI for not meeting 'age requirements'

Twitter, on Saturday, blocked the handle of news agency Asian News International or ANI for not meeting the "age requirements."

ANI Editor Smita Prakash shared a screenshot of the mail sent by the micro-blogging site which read: "In order to create a Twitter account, you must be at least 13 years old. Twitter has determined that you don't meet these age requirements, so your account has been locked and will be removed from Twitter.”

The Twitter handle of ANI, which claims to have over 100 bureaus in India and across the globe, now carries the message ‘This account doesn’t exist’.

Calling it "bad news", Smita Prakash tweeted: “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! Our gold tick was taken away, substituted with blue tick and now locked out.”

The move by Twitter attracted much backlash, with many demanding that the handle of the news agency should be restored.

"What is going on, @elonmusk? The largest news agency handle in India has been suspended for some bizarre reason! please @Twitter, @TwitterIndia see this is serious issue please restore @Ani_News," wrote a user.

"@elonmusk this need your attention please," wrote another user.