Facebook denies conducting ‘physical verification’ of Delhi user who ‘posted political content’

Facebook released a statement yesterday denying it conducted a “physical verification” of an Indian user who wrote a political post on his personal Facebook account. The social media giant’s statement comes after an IANS report stating that a Facebook user in Delhi was “visited by a Facebook representative” and asked for his Aadhaar card and other documents to verify if he had posted political content.

In response, Facebook said: “Facebook does not conduct any form of physical verification in India, except for an advertiser who plans to run ads related to politics or issues of national importance in India.” Live Mint reports: “The social media platform stated that it requires off platform checks only for those who want to run ads related to politics or issues of national importance in India. It requires them to go through an ad authorisation process.”

The IANS story quoted the unnamed Delhi-based Facebook user as saying: “It was like cops come to your door for passport verification. The Facebook representative asked me to prove my credentials by asking for my Aadhaar card and other documents to understand if I am the one who had posted the political content.”