Karti Chidambaram & AAP react to Facebook unpublishing Kisan Ekta Morcha page; lash out

After Facebook unpublished Kisan Ekta Morcha's page on its platform on Sunday only to restore it hours later, Congress leader Karti Chidambaram and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have come out in support of the farmers' and slammed the social media giant. Taking to Twitter, the ruling party in Delhi said that it condemns the act by Facebook and stands in solidarity with Kisan Ekta Morcha. "AAP will keep raising its voice in support of farmers on every social media platform," it added.

AAP, Karti back Kisan Ekta Morcha

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, in his one-line response, wrote, "And Facebook told our parliamentary standing committee that it found no reason to pull down posts of Bajrang Dal!" He was referring to the statement by Facebook's India head Ajit Mohan who told a parliamentary panel that the social media giant's fact-checking team has not found any content that necessitates a ban on the Bajrang Dal. 

Karti Chidambaram, along with Shashi Tharoor, last Wednesday, questioned Mohan about a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report suggesting that the social media giant is reluctant on banning the Bajrang Dal on its platform due to financial reasons and concerns over the safety of its staff, the sources told news agency PTI. 

According to media reports, along with the Facebook page, Kisan Ekta Morcha's Instagram page too was taken down following a live broadcast, the protestors alleged. Farmers connected with the protests have been posting updates about their agitation under the banner of Kisan Ekta Morcha.

'When they can't beat us ideologically....'

"This is what they can do when people raise their voices....... " Kisan Ekta Morcha tweeted with a screenshot of its Facebook page which was unpublished. In the screenshot, a Facebook warning can be seen saying that the page had gone against its community standards on spam.

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"In midst of a Facebook Live I was doing from Kisan Ekta Morcha's page, we get a notification that the FB page has been unpublished," Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said in a tweet. He added, "There must be something about farmers that this govt is particularly scared of & something about this govt that Facebook is particularly scared of." Netizens have also started trending #ShameOnFacebook on Twitter.

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