Keypoints:
- The move came at a time when questions are being raised about the social media giant’s alleged bias towards the BJP.
- The development comes even as Facebook is battling allegations of favouring the BJP.
- Just before 10 pm, social media users noted that the page had been restored.
On Sunday evening,a prominent Facebook account used by farmers protesting the Narendra Modi government’s new agriculture laws was removed by the social media giant before being restored after sparking online outrage.
The account called ‘Kisan Ekta Morcha’ is the official platform of the Kisan Aandolan and has over 100,000 followers.
Regular updates on protests, videos on speeches given by the farmer union leaders are published over the account and it also counters what it claims is misinformation by the Centre.
“We were live and we got a notification that the page is unpublished and that was very strange… We didn’t get any warning,” said Baljeet Singh Sandhu, IT Cell head and vice-president of the Majha Kisan committee.
The page was unpublished at around 7:00 PM and was restored by 9:30 PM, during which several hundreds of users accused Facebook of censoring farmer voices.
Activist Yogendra Yadav said on Twitter that he had been doing a Facebook Live video transmission from the Kisan Ekta Morcha page, when the group got a notification that the page had been unpublished.
In midst of a Facebook Live I was doing from Kisan Ekta Morcha's page, we get a notification that the FB page has been unpublished.
There must be something about farmers that this govt is particularly scared of & something about this govt that Facebook is particularly scared of https://t.co/yYCZu6r3UR pic.twitter.com/xjnpS7nRRi
— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) December 20, 2020
The news of the page being unpublished sparked online outrage on twitter
When contacted, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the page had been restored and said that the company apologises for any inconvenience that had been caused.
“As an immediate ask and at the very least Facebook is expected to issue a detailed statement on how and why was the page of Kisan Ekta Manch unpublished,” said the Internet Freedom Foundation in a tweet. “Second, it needs to provide a public commitment for a transparent human rights review as provided in the United States.”
Short statement : The action taken by Facebook to close the Kisan Ekta Morcha requires a close look at its content moderation practices and polices. India has close to 300 million Facebook users. It’s largest market. Even then there is little transparency or accountability. 1/2
— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) December 20, 2020
As an immediate ask and at the very least Facebook is expected to issue a detailed statement on how and why was the page of Kisan Ekta Manch unpublished. Second, it needs to provide a public commitment for a transparent human rights review as provided in the United States. 2/2
— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) December 20, 2020
Later around 10 pm, social media users noted that the page has been restored.
This came at a time when questions are being raised about Facebook’s alleged bias towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.
