Facebook's action against Rahul Gandhi's post comes after it was issued a notice by India's child rights body which has sent several notices to Twitter as well on the same issue. After Twitter temporarily suspended Rahul Gandhi's account last week, on August 20, Facebook removed Gandhi's post from Instagram containing his video with the parents of a 9-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and killed in New Delhi. A company spokesperson confirmed the same to MediaNama and said that the action to remove the content was taken as it was in violation of their policies. MediaNama had earlier reported that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had written to both Facebook and Twitter to remove the former Congress President's picture from their platforms. Citing a violation of its policies, Twitter had subsequently locked Gandhi and several others' accounts last week. Political censorship has been a tricky area for social media platforms, with the Indian government, in a previous incident, reportedly threatening Twitter employees with imprisonment when it had refused to takedown certain accounts related to violence around the Red Fort on January 26. Justification and action taken by Facebook On August 17, Facebook reportedly wrote an email to Gandhi asking him to delete the Instagram post. “According to NCPCR’s August 10, 2021 notice, a post you uploaded through your Instagram account, is unlawful under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015; Section 23 of the POCSO, 2012; and Section 288A of the Indian Penal Code. In accordance with…
