A handful of Bollywood celebrities have deactivated their Twitter accounts citing negativity on the micro-blogging site. ‘Dhadak’ director Shashank Khaitan calling Twitter a ‘breeding ground for hate and negativity’ when he decided to quit it earlier this week and on Saturday, actress Sonakshi Sinha deactivating her account to stay away from negativity and protect her sanity. Sonakshi made the revelation in an Instagram post, saying, “The first step to protecting your sanity is to stay away from negativity. And nowhere more of that than Twitter these days! Chalo, I’m off – deactivating my account. Bye guys, peace out.” She has also disabled the comments section of her Instagram account. At the time of quitting, Sonakshi had 15.9 million followers on Twitter. Netizens are speculating the reason for the actress` decision could have to do with the severe trolling she faced after she shared a post expressing her grief and condolence over the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. His sudden demise has once again stirred the debate on the alleged practice of nepotism and preferential treatment towards star kids in the industry. Sonakshi, like many other star kids, has been trolled on social media even as the subject is hotly discussed. On the other hand, filmmaker Karan Johar, who has been trolled for working primarily with star kids, in the wake of Sushant’s untimely death, has unfollowed most of the industry people on Twitter. He is now following only eight people, three of them being that of Bollywood A-listers Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar. Meanwhile, before deactivating his Twitter account, Shashank Khaitan tweeted, “Done with Twitter… just a breeding ground for hate and negativity… very sad that a platform so powerful, could not be used to create a better world… praying for peace and love always… deactivating my account now … @Twitterindia.” She has also disabled the comments section of her Instagram account He also shared the news on Instagram: “Finally, deleted my Twitter account… I am surely inconsequential, in terms of followers and reach for the platform… but I believe every voice is important… hope such a powerful platform can evolve and reform to spread love and happiness … Praying for a peaceful world always.” Actor Saqib Saleem, who has starred in films like ‘Mere Dad Ki Maruti’ and ‘Race 3’, has decided to quit the micro-blogging site too. His statement read: “I am Breaking Up with you Twitter. Hey Twitter, when we met for the first time, you were a lovely. A great platform to express feelings, gather knowledge and understand many different points of view. But, of late you seem to have gotten lost in all the hate everyone is so ready to throw at each other, a place of bullies, a place where abusing people is a normal code of conduct.” He added, “These last few days have forced me to realise that I don`t need this kind of energy in my life, where I wake up to hatred, where kindness is lost. It has made me realise that I need to surround myself with people, things, content and vibes that reflect who I want to be and how I want to feel; energies are contagious!” “Thank you to my almost 99k followers for all the love. We will stay connected through other platforms, but for now, Twitter and I are done. In a world where you can be anything, be kind,” Saqib Saleem signed off. Actor Aayush Sharma, superstar Salman Khan’s brother-in-law, has also deactivated his Twitter account. He made his debut with Warina Hussain with ‘LoveYatri’ (2018). Actor Zaheer Iqbal, who was also launched by Salman in 2019 with ‘Notebook’, is also off Twitter now. He shared the screenshot of his last tweet on Instagram, which read, “Goodbye Twitter”.