Pages taken down by Facebook not ours: Congress

In a major crackdown, Facebook removed several pages, groups and accounts from India and Pakistan for violating its policies and participating in inauthentic behaviour or spam.

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Hours after reports of several pages linked to Congress being taken down by Facebook, the party on Monday clarified that those pages which have been removed are not associated with it. “This is to clarify no official pages run by INC have been taken down. Additionally, all pages run by our verified volunteers are also unaffected. In the meantime, we are awaiting a response from Facebook to provide us a list of all pages/accounts that they have taken down,” tweeted the Indian National Congress.

In a major crackdown, Facebook removed several pages, groups and accounts from India and Pakistan for violating its policies and participating in inauthentic behaviour or spam. The social network clarified that the takedowns were not because of the kind of content posted by these pages, but inauthentic behaviour and the bid to deceive users about their identity.

This is to clarify no official pages run by INC have been taken down. Additionally, all pages run by our verified volunteers are also unaffected.

In the mean time, we are awaiting a response from Facebook to provide us a list of all pages/accounts that they have taken down.

— Congress (@INCIndia) April 1, 2019

It was earlier reported that one set of pages, groups and accounts were linked to the IT cell of the Indian National Congress (INC), while another set of pages were linked to an IT firm called Silver Touch Technologies. In India, Facebook said it removed 687 pages and accounts, which it said were linked to individuals associated with an IT Cell of the Indian National Congress (INC). The Congress, however, later clarified that none of the pages is linked to it.

Talking to media about the developments, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Today a very historical development has taken place. Owners of those accounts were not known. It was fake. It was used to spread falsehood against Narendra Modi govt.”