'Was Marked Spam For Increased Activity': Facebook On Why It Blocked Farmers’ Kisan Ekta Morcha Page

Social Media giant Facebook on Monday clarified that it had blocked the Kisan Ekta Morcha page only temporarily and was restored within three hours.

(Representative Image/ AFP)

Amid questions being raised about Facebook’s alleged bias towards the Bharatiya Janata Party, the tech giant on Monday clarified that it blocked the 'Kisan Ekta Morcha' page on Sunday for allegedly "going against" the social media platform’s "Community Standards on spam." On Sunday, the protesting farmers alleged that one of the Facebook page operated under the name 'Kisan Ekta Morcha' was blocked by Facebook without any notification. Kisan Ekta Morcha is one of the biggest pages used by the protesting farmers' organisation to send updates and inform them about the agitations being held in the national capital against the three farm bills enacted by the central government earlier this year. The head of the IT wing of the farmers' protest Baljeet Singh confirmed the development saying "the official digital platform of Kisan Mukti Morcha has been blocked without prior notification".

'Was Marked Spam For Increased Activity': Facebook Clarifies 

Amid the rising criticism over the move, Facebook on Monday said that the page was blocked only temporarily and was restored within three hours. In a statement quoted by Times Now, a Facebook spokesperson said, "our automated systems found an increased activity on Facebook page 'Kisan Ekta Morcha' and flagged it as spam, which violates our Community Standards. We restored the page in less than 3 hours when we became aware of the context." Meanwhile, a massive nationwide protest by the farms against the three farm bills, entered 26 straight day on Monday. The farmers' Unions have decided to continue with their agitations on Delhi Borders, and even observe banging 'thali' on December 27, during Prime Minister Modi's Mann Ki Baat to mark their agitation against the farm bills. One of the leaders, Rakesh Tikait has burged people to skip a meal on Kisan Diwas, celebrated on December 23.