Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee alleged that his verified Facebook account was accessed unauthorisedly and his party affiliation was removed from its profile, the MP's lawyers said. The lawyers made a complaint to Meta Platforms Inc, the owner of Facebook, in this regard.
In the complaint, advocate Sanjay Basu said, "My client has an account/page with Facebook, ie. 'Abhishek Banerjee Official'... (which) mentions the following in his Bio: The Official page of Abhishek Banerjee. Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha). National General Secretary, All India Trinamool Congress."
However, it was noticed on February 11 that the words "All India Trinamool Congress" were missing, Basu alleged in his letter to Meta. Terming it a serious breach of security, the letter stated that the "unauthorised edit" in the page, with approximately 2.2 million followers, misrepresented Banerjee’s political identity and damaged his reputation.
PTI, however, could not locate a page named “AbhishekBanerjeeOfficial” on the said social media platform. But, a page titled “Abhishek Banerjee” carrying the authentication blue tick was available, which currently has 2.2 million followers.
The bio of that page stated: "The official page of Abhishek Banerjee. Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha). National General Secretary, All India Trinamool Congress." It was not immediately clear whether the complaint was lodged with respect to the page now visible on the platform, and if the bio had been restored as per the demand made in the complaint.
Multiple attempts by PTI to contact Basu for his response failed. Banerjee, considered number two in the Trinamool Congress hierarchy, has been representing the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency since 2014.
The lawyer's February 12 letter asked Meta to investigate the incident, identify those responsible, outline enhanced security measures for verified accounts, and issue an unconditional apology within seven days. Failure to comply may lead to legal action, the notice warned.
