Facebook made some posts asking for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s resignation from office, hidden from public viewing for a brief time in India, at a time when the country is grappling with the Covid-19 crisis. Facebook said that it did that “by mistake” and not because the Indian government asked it so. This is the second incident where voices critical of the ruling government were snubbed, especially in the middle of the crisis that has made India an epicentre of the pandemic. A few days back, Twitter had to hide as many as 50 posts that were critical of the government's manner of handling the Covid-19 situation in India, in response to the government's order.

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

Since the posts were hidden in India, it is not immediately clear how they were found violating Facebook’s community guidelines. And since Facebook is claiming the Indian government had nothing to do with this takedown of posts, there looms a bigger question for the social media giant. And that question straightaway targets the company's community guidelines. And the algorithm that Facebook is using to scan posts across the platform. Since posts with the particular #ResignModi were hidden, Facebook needs to clarify more in terms of what else it found was against the guidelines.

Facebook made some posts asking for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s resignation from office, hidden from public viewing for a brief time in India, at a time when the country is grappling with the Covid-19 crisis. Facebook said that it did that “by mistake” and not because the Indian government asked it so. This is the second incident where voices critical of the ruling government were snubbed, especially in the middle of the crisis that has made India an epicentre of the pandemic. A few days back, Twitter had to hide as many as 50 posts that were critical of the government's manner of handling the Covid-19 situation in India, in response to the government's order.

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

Since the posts were hidden in India, it is not immediately clear how they were found violating Facebook’s community guidelines. And since Facebook is claiming the Indian government had nothing to do with this takedown of posts, there looms a bigger question for the social media giant. And that question straightaway targets the company's community guidelines. And the algorithm that Facebook is using to scan posts across the platform. Since posts with the particular #ResignModi were hidden, Facebook needs to clarify more in terms of what else it found was against the guidelines.