A new report in the Wall Street Journal says that BJP’s Telangana MLA T Raja Singh has been banned from Facebook over hate speech under pressure.
His account did not appear in a search on Facebook.
WSJ reported that Singh’s account was removed for violating Facebook’s hate speech policies.
One of the author’s of the article called it an “about-face” for Facebook and said that it could be “politically tricky” for Facebook in India to have taken this step.
Facebook, in India, has been accused of ignoring hate speech made by BJP leaders like Singh and others and also ignoring violation of ad rules in the platform.
A Facebook spokesperson told WSJ, “We have banned Raja Singh from Facebook for violating our policy prohibiting those that promote or engage in violence and hate from having a presence on our platform. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to this decision.”
Facebook’s Public Policy executive Ankhi Das has also been accused of openly supporting the BJP and wanting to use her position to help the BJP win.
All these allegations had come out in previous WSJ reports.
Singh had made comments on Rohingya Muslim refugees in India, saying they should be sent away. Even after the WSJ report, Singh said he stood by his remarks.
Singh also claimed that apparently his page had been hacked in 2018.
The earlier WSJ report that put Singh in the eye of the storm had alleged Ankhi Das, told employees that punishing hate speech by BJP leaders in India would damage the company’s “business prospects” in India. The leaders with hate speech posts mentioned in the report include Telangana MLA T. Raja Singh and MP and former Union minister Anantkumar Hegde.