New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal Twitter handle was "very briefly compromised," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a tweet early on Sunday, December 12.

The matter was escalated to Twitter and the Prime Minister's personal twitter handle @narendramodi was immediately secured, PMO India's tweet said, adding any tweet shared during the brief period when the account was compromised must be ignored.

It was not immediately known how long the personal Twitter handle of Modi, which has over 73 million followers, was compromised.

Users, however, managed to screenshot the tweet sent during this time and have shared it on Twitter.

"Twitter took the necessary steps to secure the compromised account as soon as it became aware of the activity," a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters, adding an investigation revealed no signs of any other impacted accounts at present.

A similar incident had occurred with the Twitter handle of Modi's personal website @narendramodi_in in September 2020, with a series of tweets asking followers to donate to a relief fund through cryptocurrency.

Proposed legislation that would ban the use of private cryptocurrencies as a method of payment in India has been making ripples since it was included in a list of bills to be tabled in the ongoing Winter Session of the Lok Sabha.

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