The Telangana government has reported fake and anonymous accounts that reportedly promoted the hashtag — #TSGovtStealsData — on Monday to Twitter. It has asked the social media site to cancel the ‘tick mark’ assigned to a few verified accounts.

It made a formal complaint with the social media company, alleging that these ‘paid’ accounts had tweeted and shared posts with the hashtag after the Telangana police filed a data theft case against IT Grids, an IT company. “We found that these tweets and re-tweets came from unlikely places, raising eyebrows. Some of the orchestrated tweets were found even on some verified accounts,” Konatham Dileep, digital media director of the Telangana government told BusinessLine .

“We made a formal complaint with relevant screenshots. They have promised to look into the issue and act on such accounts,” he said.

The hashtag was trending on Monday. The State government alleged that it was a paid promotion.

Meanwhile, Kambhampati Rammohan Rao, national spokesperson of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), said it was natural for TDP supporters in India and abroad to express their anger through social media. “When an issue such as theft of data of the TDP comes up, it is natural for them to respond,” he said.

Stating that the data that was seized from IT Grids was owned by the TDP, he said the party was seeking advise so that legal action could be taken. “We would like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the YSRCP to refrain from spreading misguided information and exercise restraint,” he said.

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