'A Mistake, Not Asked By The Govt': Facebook Restores Content Using 'Modi Resign' Hashtag After Blocking It

Facebook said it barred the hashtag by mistake and the Modi government did not instruct to take such action.

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While India battles with a bigger Covid crisis in 2021, people have been channeling their anger and anxiety on social media informing about the mismanagement by administration and shortage of Covid essentials in various states. While the country also witnessed the positive side of social media when good Samaritans came forward and helped the people with oxygen, beds, and other necessities, the government instructed social media handles to crack a whip on those who have been spreading 'fake message and posts related to Covid 19'.

While Facebook deleted many posts and information, it also blocked the hashtag #ResignModi and its related post which has now sparked a controversy in the country.

While people started raising questions that whether the central government instructed Facebook Inc. to take such action, the social media organisation said that it barred the hashtag by mistake and not at the behest of the government, without elaborating, as reporter by Wall Street Journal.

  "We temporarily blocked this hashtag by mistake, not because the Indian government asked us to, and have since restored it”, a Facebook company spokesperson said.

"Keeping our community safe," the notice on Facebook read when people searched for the hashtag."Posts with #ResignModi are temporarily hidden here. Some content in those posts goes against our community standards."

The blocking of the #ResignModi hashtag comes after Twitter faced criticism for deleting more than 50 tweets critical of the administration’s handling of the pandemic after a legal request by the central government citing reasons that the posts spread 'misinformation. 

As many as 3,79,257 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,83,76,524, said the Union health ministry on Thursday morning.