Updated: September 3, 2020 12:09:38 pm
BJP T politician Raja Singh (Photo: Facebook / @ RajaSinghOfficial)
Facing severe criticism from opposition parties for its alleged bias in handling hate speech content, Facebook on Thursday banned Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh from its platform and Instagram for violating its policy on content promoting violence and hatred.
“We have banned Raja Singh from Facebook for violating our policy that prohibits those who promote or participate in acts of violence and hate from having a presence on our platform,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and is what led us to delete your account, the statement added.
In a report that sparked a massive political storm, The Wall Street Journal said Facebook’s top public policy executive in India cited government-business relations for not applying hate speech rules to at least four people and groups linked to the BJP, ignoring the fact that they were “internally flagged. for promoting or participating in violence. “
Referring to Singh’s hate speech in which he allegedly called for violence against minorities, the report quoted “current and former” Facebook employees as saying that the senior executive’s intervention is part of a “broader pattern of favoritism” by the company. company towards the ruling party.
The WSJ report said that internal Facebook staff concluded that the MLA should be banned from the platform under a policy called “Dangerous People and Organizations.”
Since then, the ruling BJP and Congress have been exchanging criticism about the social media giant’s alleged bias.
A Parliamentary panel also summoned Facebook representatives to discuss the issue of the alleged misuse of the social media platform on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the employees of the social media platform of supporting politically predisposed people who lost successive elections and of “abusing” the first. minister and cabinet ministers.
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