On Wednesday, IT Minister RS Prasad attacked the Congress over its alleged links to Cambridge Analytica, after the company came under the cloud for ‘influencing elections’

He said that any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India’s electoral process ‘will not be tolerated’.

He also said that Congress roped in Cambridge Analytica to run their 2019 campaign, terming it a Bramhastra.

He said: “Any covert or overt attempt to misuse Social Media including Facebook to influence India's electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor be permitted.”

He added: “Cambridge Analytica, the agency roped in by Congress to run their 2019 campaign and termed as their 'Brahmastra' in certain section of media, is accused of using bribes, sex workers to entrap politicians and stealing data from Facebook.”

Also read Cambridge Analytica CEO claims influence on US election, Facebook questioned

He further targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying: “Will Congress party depend upon data manipulation and theft to win votes? Mr. Rahul Gandhi should explain the role of Cambridge Analytica in his social media profile.”

Cambridge Analytica, the agency roped in by Congress to run their 2019 campaign and termed as their 'Brahmastra' in certain section of media, is accused of using bribes, sex workers to entrap politicians and stealing data from Facebook : Shri @rsprasad — BJP (@BJP4India) March 21, 2018

Will Congress party depend upon data manipulation and theft to win votes? Mr. Rahul Gandhi should explain the role of Cambridge Analytica in his social media profile : Shri @rsprasad — BJP (@BJP4India) March 21, 2018

Amid rising speculations of social media giant Facebook’s involvement in the alleged misuse of users’ private data, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton took to Twitter asking everyone to delete Facebook.Acton, whose product was bought by Facebook in 2014 for a whopping USD 16 billion, took to the microblogging platform and said ‘It is time. #deletefacebook’ after concerns were flagged on data privacy in the wake of revelations about Cambridge Analytica’s alleged misuse of user data.

The rise of false news and the disclosure recently that scores of Facebook user profiles had been harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling company that worked on United States President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, are key issues which have emerged.This has resulted in a significant plunge in the company’s shares over the last five days.Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica on Tuesday suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, amid a furor over the access it gained to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users.

Facebook said today the company was "outraged" after being "deceived" over the misuse of data by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which improperly harvested information on 50 million users.

A company statement appeared to place the blame for the incident on the British-based firm linked to President Donald Trump, which according to Facebook violated terms of the social network by misusing data from an academic researcher.

"The entire company is outraged we were deceived. We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information and will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens," the statement said.

It added that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and their teams "are working around the clock to get all the facts and take the appropriate action moving forward, because they understand the seriousness of this issue."

With inputs from agencies