Most popular leader on FB, Modi mulls socal media exit; Rahul suggests ”give up hatred” instead

March 2, 2020
New Delhi (IANS) World’s most followed leader on Facebook and the third most followed leader on Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday left everyone surprised as he announced that he was thinking to “give up social media accounts”.

“This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted,” Modi said in a tweet.

Immediately after his tweet former Congress President Rahul Gandhi suggested that Modi should “give up hatred, not social media”.

“Give up hatred, not social media accounts,” Gandhi tweeted with a screenshot of Prime Minister’s tweet.

Modi has over 53 million followers on Twitter, making him the third most popular on the social media site with only US President Donald J. Trump (73 mn) and former US President Barack Obama (113 mn) ahead of him.

On Facebook however, Modi was the most followed leader globally with over 44 million followers, while his closest was Trump who had 27 million followers. Modi’s popularity on Facebook was such that even the US President that it was difficult to take on the Indian leader.

Trump had in February said, “And I congratulated Prime Minister Modi. I said, ‘But, you know, you have 1.5 billion people. I have 350 million. You have an advantage.”

Trump though maintained that he was number one on Facebook and Modi was second. “Prime Minister Modi is number two on Facebook, number two. Think of that. You know who the number one is? Trump. You believe that? Number one. I just found out,” Trump said during his commencement address at the Hope for Prisoners Graduation Ceremony in Las Vegas.

Apart from Twitter and Facebook, Modi has over 35 million followers on Instagram, and 4.5 million subscribers on Youtube.

Modi’s tweet came as a shock to many, as the Indian Prime Minister has on various occasions seen using social media heavily. Be it famous “Main bhi Chowkidar” campaign during the Lok Sabha elections last year, or be it roping in celebrities from different sections of society for vote campaign, Modi is seen using social media to his benefit.

Following Modi’s tweet, social media went abuzz speculating why the Prime Minister was thinking of leaving all social media platforms. Some felt that the Prime Minister was thinking of quitting social media because its misuse to spread rumours.

The national capital recently witnessed heavy use of social media to propagate rumours which resulted in amplifying the riots in northeast Delhi.