#ResignModi blocked for several hours, “by mistake” says Facebook
The hashtag has now been restored.
Facebook authorities blocked posts tagged #ResignModi for several hours and then restored them, stating later that the hashtag was barred “by mistake”. The temporary blocking has led to a controversy on whether there were Central government requests to remove the hashtag and content amid a devastating second wave of COVID crisis across the country.
“We temporarily blocked this hashtag by mistake, not because the Indian government asked us to, and have since restored it,” a Facebook spokesperson was quoted saying on NDTV.
The hashtag has been a reaction and outburst from a section of people across the country due to the way the Centre handled the COVID crisis – leading to people demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Facebook said that it had barred the hashtag by mistake and it was not prompted by any government instruction or request. The error was due to the content associated with the hashtag and not the hashtag itself, it was said by a spokesperson. Hashtags and content are often blocked by Facebook for several reasons and for not following some of its guidelines.
There have been rage and anger across the country with rising number of COVID-19 cases but unavailable beds in hospitals, people gasping for want of oxygen, medicines in short supply and heartbreaking pictures of bodies lined up outside crematoriums. India has reported several days of more than 300,000 new daily infections.
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