In the past month, Facebook blocked Vartha Bharati, a 14-year-old Kannada language newspaper headquartered in Mangaluru, from sharing its content on two occasions. Restrictions were imposed for the first time for eight days from June 20 to June 27. The publication’s Facebook page was blocked a second time for a period of one month starting July 10, but it was lifted within a day. Both times, an alert appeared on Vartha Bharati’s Facebook page: “Your page has been blocked from sharing links. This could be due to activity from your page that doesn’t comply with Facebook’s policies.”
Abdussalam Puthige, editor-in-chief of Vartha Bharati, said the restrictions were nothing short of censorship. “It violated freedom of speech and expression,” he added, alleging that Facebook might have based its actions on reports against the newspaper by Right-wing online media campaigners.
“We have published reports on matters that affect Muslims, Dalits, farmers and women that are ignored by the mainstream media,” Puthige said. “Besides, we exposed the Right-wing’s fake news propaganda. It might have angered them and, hence, the mass reporting.”
He added, “All the restrictions placed on us have been lifted now. But we expect it to happen anytime.”
The action against Vartha Bharati comes at a time of heightened concern over media and internet censorship across the…
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