India / FACEbook instagram removed pibs post related to vaccine fact check admitted mistake after government

The ongoing tussle between the central government and social media platforms once again heated up. In fact, recently Facebook and Instagram took action on a post of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and removed it. When the government intervened, Facebook and Instagram had to republish it.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Jun 05, 2021, 09:27 AM
New Delhi: The ongoing tussle between the central government and social media platforms once again heated up. In fact, recently Facebook and Instagram took action on a post of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and removed it. When the government intervened, Facebook and Instagram had to republish it. In fact, in the post which was removed from social media, PIB had investigated the facts related to death due to corona vaccine. According to the Indian Express news, a Facebook spokesperson said that the content was 'inadvertently blocked', but later restored.

Facts related to vaccine were checked in PIB's post

On May 25, a post was shared on Facebook and Instagram by the handle of PIB Fact Check. In this, the government body, quoting a Nobel laureate from France, Luc Montagnier, denied the claim being made about the vaccine. In a viral post making such a false claim, it was being said that according to Luc Montagnier, a person who got the Kovid-19 vaccine could die in two years.

FB- Instagram removed the post without explanation

The PIB said in its post that, 'A picture is being circulated on social media purportedly about Kovid-19 quoting the Nobel laureate of France. The claim being made in this picture is false. The Kovid-19 vaccine is completely safe. Do not share this picture further.' After the release of this post, both the platforms removed these posts without any explanation.

Threat to block PIB's page

Facebook also issued a warning after this, saying that sharing 'false news' could lead to the unpublishing of PIB's page. After this action of social media, PIB approached the IT Ministry. The ministry later contacted Facebook and Instagram via email and the post was reposted on both the platforms. After this incident, the IT Ministry has expressed concern about the fact-checking process. According to the report, it is likely that the ministry may write to social media companies to make the fact checking process transparent and share the information of the fact checkers appointed.

Facebook said - a mistake was made

Although the post was republished after government intervention, a Facebook spokesperson said that the content was 'inadvertently blocked', but has since been restored.