Over 900 posts taken down from social media platforms during 2019 polls following directions from EC. All details inside

Social media platforms-- including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp-- removed a total of 909 posts during the Lok Sabha election, following directions from the Election Commission.

Facebook alone took down 650 posts, followed by Twitter (220), ShareChat (31), YouTube (five) and WhatsApp (three), Director General (Communications) in the EC Dhirendra Ojha said on Sunday, after the seventh and final phase of polling was concluded.

Of the 650 posts taken down by Facebook, 482 were political messages posted during the "silence period".

The "silence period" starts 48 hours before the hour set for conclusion of polling in a particular phase. The seventh phase of polling came to a close at 6 pm on Sunday, so the "silence period" had begun at 6 pm on Friday for this phase.

As many as 73 social media posts were political advertisements in the "silence period", two were violative of the Model Code of Conduct, 43 were related to voter "misinformation", 28 were dubbed as those crossing the limits of decency, 11 were related to exit polls and 11 were hate speeches, Mr Ojha said.

There were also 647 confirmed cases of paid news, of which the maximum of 342 were reported in the first phase itself, he added. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, 1,297 confirmed cases of paid news were reported, Mr Ojha said. 

Read: Political Ad Spend On Facebook, Google Tops Rs 53 Crore

Political parties have spent over Rs 53 crore on digital platforms like Google and Facebook between February and May, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounting for a lion's share of the spending.

According to Facebook's Ad Library Report, there were 1.21 lakh political ads with a total spending of more than Rs 26.5 crore between February and May 15 this year.

Similarly, ad spend on Google, YouTube, and partner properties since February 19 stood at Rs 27.36 crore with 14,837 ads.

Ruling party BJP spent Rs 4.23 crore on over 2,500 ads on Facebook. Supporting pages like 'My First Vote for Modi', 'Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat' and 'Nation with NaMo' too, infused over Rs 4 crore on ads on the social networking platform that has well over 200 million users in India. On Google's platforms, it has spent more than Rs 17 crore.

The Indian National Congress spent Rs 1.46 crore on Facebook for 3,686 ads. It shelled out another Rs 2.71 crore on Google's platforms with 425 ads.