Bengaluru: Karnataka is the first state in the country to have made the Facebook remove posts that were violating Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The police have so far filed FIRs for four objectionable Facebook posts.
The 12-member Social Media Monitoring Cell is headed by state level nodal officer Dr Sunil Panwar, IFS, which keeps a close watch on social media content. The posts which were offensive, could spark communal tension, besmirch the reputation of any leader and found to be violent in nature will be removed.
H.L. Guru Prasad, a member of the social media monitoring cell and Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) said, "Facebook is in touch with the team in Delhi and we updated the team about the offensive posts on April 3. Next day we were asked for the links and on April 5 the posts were removed. Extensive mechanism is being followed."
Out of four posts, two were found to be against the BJP, one against the Congress and one against the JD(S). There is a fifth post against the BJP which was reported and since the post is in Kannada the Facebook reportedly needs its translation.
Prasad said the three different teams look after email and phone calls and the other teams send reports to the cell based on the violation. Any citizen can send a mail or call on toll free number to report about the MCC violation.
In one of the posts that was removed, a person was showed with the severed head of a leader. "In case of a genuine criticism we do not take any action but if there is any use of unparliamentary language against any leader it comes under the MCC violation," Prasad added.
A government primary teacher in Kalaburagi was on April 9 suspended by the district collector for a Facebook post that criticised a party using offensive language.
The monitoring cell has lodged an FIR against four people for posting objectionable content on Facebook.
The political parties cannot publish political ads on the polling day unless the contents are pre-certified by MCMC.
