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A request sent by the Guntur Urban Police to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) seeking the removal of certain posts has drawn ridicule after the department identified itself as the ‘FBI’ in the submission.
The matter surfaced after YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) member Nagarjuna Yadav, who uses the X handle @ImYanamala, received an email from X on July 28 informing him that law enforcement authorities had flagged three of his posts for allegedly violating Indian law.
The email stated that X had received a request from the “FBI” concerning his account. The posts related to alleged irregularities in the District Selection Committee (DSC) recruitment process.
The three posts criticised the handling of the recruitment process and alleged a lack of transparency. One called for a protest by unemployed youth, while another questioned why Nara Lokesh had not resigned over the alleged irregularities. A third urged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to dismiss his son from the Cabinet.
Wondering why the American Federal Bureau of Investigation would object to his tweets, Yadav contacted X and asked for details of the agency that had submitted the request.
In its response on September 13, X said the request had actually been submitted using the official government email address guntururbansp-ap@gov.in.
The platform said the request was submitted by an individual identifying himself as Inspector AV Bramham but the organisation field reportedly carried the name “FBI”.
X said its earlier reference to the FBI was an error caused by the information entered in the request. It specifically clarified that the communication had not originated from the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Guntur SP did not answer our calls.