Facebook briefly blocks posts with hashtag '#ResignModi', says it was a mistake

Facebook on Thursday blocked "#ResignModi" for several hours before restoring it saying it was done by mistake as the social media company drew flak for censoring calls on the platform for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation for allegedly mishandling the second Covid-19 wave.

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

#ResignModi

The blocking and unblocking came days after the Centre issued orders to take down over 100 "inflammatory" posts and accounts across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram related to Covid-19, including a verified Facebook page affiliated to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The emergency blocking orders, under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, were issued by the ministry of electronics and information technology on Friday and came into force on Saturday.

Rights activists have accused the government of stifling critical content, while the government argued that the decision was taken to counter Covid related misinformation.

There was no immediate response from the government on Facebook's move to block and then unblock the hashtag.

Twitter blocks over 50 posts criticizing govt's handling of pandemic

Earlier, Microblogging platform Twitter has removed 52 posts related to coronavirus following orders from the ruling government, stated a report from technology news website Medianama.

Twitter has removed 52 posts The majority of these tweets were critical about the way the central government is handling the second wave of coronavirus infections as country is grappling with breakdown of health infrastructure.

India faces the worst surge of Covid-19 infections, which have crossed the 300,000-mark over the past few days. The second wave of the pandemic has pushed the death toll close to 200,000 and starved hospitals of life-saving medical oxygen and beds.

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