Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account has been unbans in Washington following a two-year suspension for breaking the site’s rules against abusive and discriminatory behavior.
In October, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media company for $44 billion led to the reinstatement of Ranaut’s account, as well as thousands of other previously banned accounts, including that of former US President Donald Trump.
Ranaut wrote on Tuesday, “Hello everyone, it’s wonderful to be back here,” before penning a Twitter thread denouncing the Indian film industry as “crass” and “obsessed with money.”
The award-winning actress Kangana Ranaut, who starred in the critically acclaimed films “Queen” (2014) and “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” (2015), sparked controversy with her outspoken social media posts and frequent arguments with other actors and directors.
In May 2021, Twitter banned her for referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political rival, Mamata Banerjee, as a “monster” and for being an ardent supporter of the Hindu nationalist leader.
The 35-year-old actress exhorted the prime minister to attack her like a “super gundai” (super thug).
In the state of West Bengal, Banerjee just humiliated Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the polls.
Bollywood actress Ranaut criticized popular musician Rihanna for tweeting about widespread farmer protests in India. Ranaut called the singer “an idiot” and the farmers “terrorists” for protesting new agricultural rules.
Twitter reactivated Ranaut’s account at a time when Twitter and other social media sites were facing criticism for removing links to a BBC documentary questioning Modi’s role in the fatal sectarian riots of 2002 as per government directive.
“Twitter and YouTube shut down accounts and videos promoting Musk’s controversial tweet on India’s new internet laws”
Since Musk has referred to himself as a free speech “absolutist” and accused the platform’s previous ownership of caving in to US government demands on content issues, activists have particularly condemned Twitter’s shutdown.
The Guardian reported that YouTube and Twitter removed connections to the video from multiple channels and accounts respectively.
According to Prateek Waghre of the Internet Freedom Foundation, “This use of an emergency law as a censorship mechanism is a very troubling trend.” He added that it’s far from the first time this has happened in India. “This use of an emergency law as a censorship mechanism is a very troubling trend.”