The ruling DMK has alleged that Facebook was removing posts made by the cadre members and others in support of the party’s ongoing campaign against the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET).
According to the party, several posts, particular those with the hashtag ‘BanNEET’, were being deleted in large numbers for reportedly going against the social media platform’s ‘Community Standards’. The users concerned received a message that read: “It looks like you tried to get likes, follows, shares or video views in a misleading way”.
The persons whose posts were deleted included some senior functionaries of the DMK. For instance, S. Austin, deputy organising secretary (Headquarters) of the DMK, said in a post on the social media platform X that his Facebook post was deleted. Mr. Austin expressed doubt over the social media platform being pressurised to remove the posts.
In the third week of October, the DMK had launched a State-wide signature campaign against NEET. A large number of deleted posts were related to people sharing pictures on their participation in the campaign, and encouraging others to join. Posts with the hashtag ‘BanNEET’ crossed the 70,000 mark on Facebook despite the removal of content.
P.M. Yazhini, state social media coordinator for DMK’s Women’s Wing, alleged that Facebook was “selectively targeting” the campaign launched by the DMK, which is opposing the BJP in power at the Centre. Mr. Yazhini asked how Facebook could dub those voicing out for their rights “misleading”. The visibility of similar political posts have also gone down, she further claimed.
Govi Lenin, advisor to the DMK’s Information Technology Wing, said the party did not want to jump to the conclusion that the content removal was nothing but a veiled attempt to target the Opposition parties in India. However, he contended that such arbitrary deletions have happened in the past on political topics, including Hindi imposition, rationalism or NEET, that are discussed with more vigour in Tamil Nadu. “Hence, we wonder if Facebook’s algorithms have an inherent bias against such topics. We want the social media platform to be transparent about its policy framework that govern these algorithms,” he said.
The Hindu contacted Meta, which operates Facebook, for its response on the deletion of posts. A spokesperson for Meta said, “We are not enforcing anything against the hashtag ‘BanNEET’ on our platforms.”
