THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Poet K Satchidanandan has been temporarily blocked from Facebook for sharing a social media post criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Speaking to TNIE, Satchidanandan alleged that there’s an attempt to closely scrutinise opinion makers, by a vested group close to the Centre.
He was blocked from the social media platform for 24 hours for allegedly violating its community standards. As per the Facebook intimation, he was blocked for 24 hours from Friday night, and he should not go live on Facebook for another 30 days.Earlier too Facebook had removed a post by the poet seeking the PM’s resignation. On April 21, Facebook warned him stating the next action would be of a restraining nature.
The poet said he was intimated about the 24-hour ban on the night of May 7 when he shared a video and message that he had received through WhatsApp on Facebook. The video was about Amit Shah and the BJP’s defeat while the other message was a satirical ‘missing’ advertisement on Narendra Modi. He then got a message from FB intimating that he cannot post, share or comment anything for 24 hours.
“It seems that from now on I may often face similar actions. Today when I tried to post an article that appeared in Lancet, on silencing criticism, I got a message that several people have found this post abusive. It seems there’s a feeling in the government that more and more people are turning against it. It’s obvious from the recent polls. It’s a reflection of their fear and cowardice.”
“There are three groups — one is the Union government, second Facebook itself and third a group that is close to the Centre, that keeps a close watch on opinion makers and then reports them to either the Centre or Facebook,” Satchidanandan told TNIE.