Facebook removes 'misinformation' tag from Himanta video of AIUDF supporters allegedly chanting 'Pakistan Zindabad'

Guwahati: Social media giant Facebook has removed a caution of "misinformation" it had put on a video posted 3 days ago by Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wherein was claimed that AIUDF Chief Badruddin Ajmal's supporters had chanted 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans while receiving him at the Silchar Airport.

AIUDF had countered this by stating that the supporters raised the slogan “Aziz Khan Zindabad” for an AIUDF MLA who was also present there. Facebook had retained the video but had flagged it as false information.

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According to reports, Facebook removed the 'misinformation' tag as it exempts politicians from its third-party fact-checking programme. Sarma, meanwhile, has asked his critics to prove that the supporters of the AIUDF were not chanting "Pakistan Zindabad." AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, meanwhile, has claimed that the clip was doctored and intended to defame the party. The sharing of this video has caused widespread protests across Assam.

“Look at the brazenness of these fundamentalists anti-national people who are shouting PAKISTAN ZINDABAD while they welcome MP Badruddin Ajmal. This thoroughly exposes Indian National Congress which is encouraging such forces by forging an alliance…”, Sarma wrote in his caption to the video which he shared on November 6.

Fact-checking websites such as AltNews and BOOM Live had reported that pro-Pakistan slogans were not raised, and a 'misinformation' label was put on the video.

Meanwhile, the Congress has lodged an FIR in Guwahati against Sarma wherein it has been stated that the minister posted remarks on social media with an “intention to create religious tension between two communities through a misleading statement and false Facebook post”.

Sarma's allegation has come amid the AIUDF and the Congress solidifying an alliance to fight the polls in Assam.

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