Bangladesh: Twitter removes PM Hasina’s fake but verified account after uproar

Twitter has suspended an account in the name of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which was fake but verified with a blue tick. The fake but verified twitter account @Sheikh_HasinaBD created an uproar on social media when it was reported on Friday. Scores of people shared the screenshot and link of the ‘verified’ twitter account of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Subsequently, the government of Bangladesh issued a statement denying that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has any account on twitter or on any other social media platform.

Prime Minister Hasina’s Asst. Press Secretary M M Emrul Kayas told the official news agency BSS that the said twitter account does not belong to Prime Minister Hasina nor does she have an account on any other social media platform.

Earlier, in 2019 the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) had arrested some people for creating fake profiles of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members on Facebook. They were charged with spreading rumours and false propaganda using the fake accounts and extorting money using fraudulent means.