Suzanne Bernert, the actress who played the role of Sonia Gandhi in the film The Accidental Prime Minister, today has revealed that Facebook had ‘checked’ her Facebook account for ‘political content’.
My Account was checked for Political Content .. as I portrayed Sonia Gandhi in TAPM … Someone actually came to meet and verify my Address and all.. I kept on writing and telling that I am only an Actress .. weird things do happen … Let’s hope it gets resolved soon
— Suzanne Bernert (@suzannebernert) April 2, 2019
Bernert was responding to MyNation Editor Abhijit Majumder who was voicing his protest against Facebook for taking down MyNation Facebook page with over a million followers in what could be seen as one of the biggest purges the social networking giant has undertaken just ahead of the 2019 General Elections.
Bernert said that someone from Facebook physically went to meet her and verify her address despite her writing to them that she is just an actress. She had played the role of Sonia Gandhi in the film ‘The Accidental Prime Minister‘ which was released earlier this year which took the audience through the ten-year journey of the UPA era.
While Bernert’s account was not taken down, MyNation’s account was, even though it was a verified page for the media outlet. In his tweets, Majumder mentioned that MyNation’s Facebook account was verified just two weeks prior and asked if the page was violating any rules, how come it was not flagged back then itself.
While @facebook officials I interact with are professional and cordial, FB’s history of meddling in elections — esp the Cambridge Analytica episode — does raise fears of ideological targeting. Hope FB will act to allay it.@MyNation will continue to bring out uncomfortable truth.
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 2, 2019
He added how the purging which comes just days before the general elections along the Cambridge Analytica baggage Facebook carries with itself and the political ideology it follows, raises quite a few questions.
Yesterday, Facebook had announced that it had brought down hundreds of pages for alleged violation of policies by engaging in ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’ and ‘spam’ from India and Pakistan. Various pages and groups were removed which violated Facebook policies and rules. Among them, MyNation Facebook page was also brought down without notice or trial.
