Derek O’ Brien said Facebook removed accounts of party’s supporters in the run up to its Foundation Day.
New Delhi:
The Trinamool Congress on Monday claimed that Facebook removed the online accounts of the party’s supporters in the run up to its Foundation Day on August 28 and that it has raised the issue in a letter to the social media company.
TMC leader of Rajya Sabha and national spokesperson Derek O’ Brien, in the letter, said the party had last year raised the issue of “collusion” between Facebook India and the BJP and that recent reports in the international media about the same have vindicated its stand on the matter.
“The NDA also had a hidden partner, non-disclosed allies. Facebook’s senior management in India are de facto campaign managers for the BJP, Facebook’s Delhi office is virtually extended IT cell. Facebook censored anti-BJP content,” Mr Brien had said in his speech during the motion of thanks to the President’s address in July last year.
In his letter to Facebook, Mr Brien said after his speech he had hoped that Facebook would take some remedial action.
He said the recent articles in The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine highlighting the link between BJP and Facebook has vindicated the TMC’s stand on the matter.
“We want to bring to your attention the removal of hundreds of TMC supporters’ pages and accounts on both WhatsApp and Facebook for ‘community standard violation” in the run up to the preannounced Foundation Day event,” he wrote in the letter.
Mr Brien said with the revelations now about the link between the BJP and Facebook, his “worst fears” have come true with the Bengal elections just six months away.
