Facebook on Wednesday night temporarily prevented its users around the world from searching for content through the hashtag ‘ResignModi’ calling for resignation of Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.
Access to the hashtag, and the associated content, was restored a couple of hours later after user outrage erupted across various social media platforms, The Wire reported.
In a brief and immediate response to the controversy, Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said that Facebook was looking into “what happened”.
“This hashtag has been restored and we are looking into what happened,” Stone tweeted out.
A statement put out later on Thursday morning by a company spokesperson said the decision to block the hashtag was a “mistake” and that it was not done at the behest of the Modi government.
On Wednesday evening, Facebook users discovered that when they searched for #ResignModi on the digital platform, instead of finding relevant posts, they were instead met with a message titled ‘Keeping our Community Safe’.
The message noted that posts with the hashtag or text “ResignModi’ are “temporarily hidden here” because “some content in those posts goes against our Community Standards”.
