Facebook crackdown: No official, volunteer-run pages taken down, says Congress

NEW DELHI: Following reports that Facebook has taken down 687 pages linked to an IT cell of the Congress, the party on Monday claimed that none of its official pages, run by INC or by the verified volunteers, were taken down.

Earlier today, it was reported that Facebook has taken down several pages of the Congress party for "inauthentic behaviour" and pushing spam.

"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," the party said.


The Congress, which had earlier said that it will have to check the veracity of the report, also sought a list of pages/accounts taken down by Facebook.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad clarified that the owners of the accounts taken down by Facebook were not known. "It was fake. It was used to spread falsehood against Narendra Modi government," he said.

"When inquiry was done, it was found that those individuals were linked to Congress IT cell. Congress is desperate therefore resorting to these types of dubious means to claim support but people are sure of what they have seen of Narendra Modi government," he added.

Facebook, which has been facing flak globally for instances of a user data breach, has been ramping up efforts to ensure that its platforms (that includes WhatsApp and Instagram) aren't misused to spread misinformation, especially ahead of polls in India.

It has recently started providing details of political ads on its platform in a bid to enhance transparency. It is also strengthening its team of fact checkers and deploying technology tools to flag fake news.

With ensuing general elections, the Indian government had warned social media platforms of strong action if any attempt was made to influence the country's electoral process through undesirable means.