Facebook Reverses Block on Posts Calling For Indian PM Modi to Resign

Rudy TakalaApr 28th, 2021, 5:14 pm
 
Facebook Hector Retamal/Getty Images

Hector Retamal/Getty Images

Facebook on Wednesday resumed allowing users to see messages calling on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign after blocking them from view for at least several hours.

“This hashtag has been restored and we are looking into what happened,” Facebook’s Andy Stone wrote in an afternoon message on Twitter in response to observers noticed who noticed that messages containing the phrase #ResignModi had been suppressed not only in India, but in countries including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

It’s the second time in a week a social-media company has suppressed messages critical of Modi, whose country has been dealing with one of the world’s worst remaining Covid-19 outbreaks. Twitter acknowledged on Monday that it had hidden messages critical of Modi in response to a government order, including one from cabinet member Moloy Ghatak, who wrote to complain about Modi’s management of the pandemic. “India will never forgive PM @narendramodi for underplaying the corona situation in the country and letting so many people die due to mismanagement,” Ghatak said. “At a time when India is going through a health crisis, PM chose to export millions of vaccine to other nations.”

FB India is currently censoring posts calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister https://t.co/1PZjB5Q3Nm

The messages targeted by Twitter were hidden from view for users in India, but unlike Facebook, remained visible for users in the West.

India is Facebook’s top patron in the world by number of users, with more than 400 million people on the website. As of Wednesday evening, Facebook declined to address the matter beyond Stone’s public statement.

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