With zero tweet,19 followers, Jay Shah gets blue tick verification; netizens cries foul, Twitter goes silent

Newly appointed Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Jay Shah’s entry into microblogging site Twitter has generated a storm.

In what is being described as a serious violation of norms in favour of the powerful and rich, netizens alleged that Twitter has favoured Jay Shah by authenticating his account soon after it was created.

Screenshots shared by Twitterati show that without having posted a single tweet and with just 19 followers and one following, Jay Shah’s account got blue-tick verification. A blue verified icon on the Twitter account shows that an account of public interest is authentic.

Alleging Twitter for discrimination, a netizen shared a screenshot of Bheem Army head Chandrasekhar Azad’s profile and commented despite having 68.7 k followers, Azad’s account was not verified while Jay Shah got blue-tick verification.

Another user castigated Twitter for authenticating terror accused Sadhvi Pragya’s account as “verified”.

As per earlier guidelines laid down by Twitter, one has to apply for the verification of the account. However, this process has been put on hold, says a Twitter notification. In the case of Jay Shah, it could not be confirmed how and why Twitter has verified Jay Shah’s account if it has been put on hold for others.

An expert who handles the social media department of a well-established news brand told NH on condition of anonymity that there seems to be no clarity on the issue of guidelines pertaining to the verification of an account.

“Till sometimes ago Twitter had two categories under which verification was done. An individual or a company/brand could apply for the verification after filling out a form”. “There seems to be no norm in place these days. It appears that Twitter verifies the accounts of (powerful people) as per their whim,” he added.

We contacted Twitter asking them about the guidelines for the verification of an account. We also asked them whether verification guidelines were flouted in the case of Jay Shah or not, but till the time of publishing this story, we have not received any response. We will publish Twitter’s reply as and when we receive it. Meanwhile, number of Jay Shah’s followers in Twitter crossed 11.5K.

It’s pertinent to mention that within a week it is for the second time that Jay Shah has hogged headlines.

Investigative magazine The Caravan has claimed that despite the economic slowdown, Jay Shah’s business is booming. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also tweeted the story.