PM Modi had created a bit of a flutter when he’d released a video directly addressing students during the Delhi protests, but the video is no longer available on Facebook.
PM Modi’s first video — posted on 25th July — has been taken down by Facebook. The video had gone viral instantly after it was posted. It had over 9.3 million likes, and 650k comments on Facebook. But the video is no longer accessible. Instead, Facebook displays a message: “The attached media isn’t available in your region due to a legal request”. There’s a button that says “See Why”, but clicking on it just opens an empty screen that gave no further information.
The video had been shared at a critical juncture during the recent protests at Jantar Mantar. On Instagram, the video had amassed more than 300 million views in the first 24 hours. The video had also come at a time when tensions were at their peak, and within half an hour of the video’s release, Sonam Wangchuck had broken his 26-day fast.
But the video is no longer available on Facebook. PM’s Modi’s subsequent videos are still up, but the first video — which had arguably had the most impact — is no longer accessible in India. Interesting, the video is still available on Facebook’s sister platform Instagram, where it now has over 20 million likes.
Meta hasn’t provided any information over why this video was censored, but the takedown of PM Modi’s video addressing students again shows how much power social media platforms actually have. Meta has been long accused of arbitrarily banning and restricting content for all kinds of people, but now it’s gone ahead and restricted the content shared by the Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world.