16-hour blackout: Akhilesh Yadav's Facebook page returns, SP cries foul

Lucknow, Oct 11 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav’s Facebook page was restored on Saturday after remaining inactive for nearly 16 hours, a party spokesperson said.

The SP alleged that the temporary suspension of the page was part of a “BJP conspiracy.”

The page went offline on Friday evening without any prior notice or explanation from Facebook.

Initially, party sources attributed the issue to a possible technical glitch, but after receiving no response from the social media platform, they began suspecting foul play.

Soon after the page was reactivated, Yadav made his first post, quoting Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan: “By ‘total revolution,’ I mean seeing the most oppressed people in society at the pinnacle of power.”

Though Yadav refrained from commenting on the cause of the suspension, SP sources said the party had raised the matter with Facebook via email.

SP spokesperson Dr Ashutosh Verma said an inquiry should determine whether the suspension was due to a technical fault or political interference.

“His WhatsApp and other accounts were active, so we need to see if there was a technical flaw. However, this could also be a conspiracy by the BJP,” he said.

Verma added, “In 2021, an IT Act amendment mandated two government liaison officers for all social media platforms. The government could use this mechanism to restrict public figures. They might have tried to block Akhilesh Yadav’s content temporarily. The BJP has been attempting to control social media because it remains a free space.”

Yadav’s Facebook page, which has over eight million followers, is a key medium for his communication with party workers, supporters, and the public.

The exact reason for the page’s brief suspension remains unclear. While some suggest it was a technical glitch, others believe it may have resulted from a complaint against the account.

--IANS

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