#ResignModi posts blocked: Facebook explains why, reinstates hashtag

The development comes amid reports that social media companies are being asked to remove posts that are critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Reuters

Facebook, on April 29, said that it had temporarily blocked posts with the hashtag #ResignModi "by mistake" and that it had not been done on orders from the government.

As the second wave continues to wreak havoc in India, people took to social media apps to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his government's response to the crisis with many even calling for his resignation using #ResignModi.

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According to reports and screenshots posted by users on the social media platform, including Twitter, a hashtag calling for the resignation of Modi was briefly blocked on Facebook.

Users who tried searching for posts with the hashtag were given a message that said such posts were "temporarily hidden here" because "some content in those posts goes against our Community Standards".

"We temporarily blocked this hashtag by mistake, not because the Indian government asked us to, and have since restored it," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement, as per a Bloomberg report.

Read | Centre asks Twitter to take down tweets sharing COVID-19 fake news: All you need to know

The development comes amid reports that social media companies are being asked to remove posts that are critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier, reports suggested that Twitter had taken down posts critical of the government after requests from the Centre.

A tweet by Congress National Spokesperson Pawan Khera was also taken down. Khera said he had sent a legal notice to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Twitter for taking down his April 12 tweet about "double standards on Kumbh Mela and Tablighi Jamaat".

Also read: Government asks Twitter, other social media platforms to remove misleading posts

The IT Ministry denied the clampdown and said that it had ordered the takedown of only those posts found spreading misinformation around COVID-19

India has registered a record number of COVID-19 cases daily that has put extreme pressure on the healthcare infrastructure of the country. The massive rise in infections in the second wave of the pandemic has led to hospitals in several states reeling under a severe shortage of medical oxygen and beds.

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