Facebook bans Telangana BJP leader T Raja Singh for hate speech

Telangana BJP leader T Raja Singh (file pic)

Facebook has banned Bharatiya Janata Party leader T Raja Singh for violating its policy on hate speech and violence. The decision comes in the backdrop of severe criticism the social media giant was facing from the opposition ranks over its alleged BJP links.

“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,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Facebook’s statement added that the “process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to the decision to remove his account”.

Earlier, Facebook had removed some posts by Raja Singh after a media report claimed that Facebook India was favouring the ruling party.

Meanwhile, Facebook officials on Wednesday appeared before a parliamentary panel led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. The officials were asked questions on alleged political bias.

T Raja Singh, 42, is an MLA in Telangana. He represents the Goshamahal seat in the Legislative Assembly.

The MLA had last month in a Twitter video claimed that he does not have any official Facebook page. Besides, he had also disowned the posts.

“I have got to know many FB pages are using my name. Let me clarify I am not having any official page, I am not responsible for any of their posts,” he had said.

According to Raja Singh’s claim, his official account was ‘hacked and blocked’ way back in 2018.

Both the BJP and Congress are engaged in a war of words over Facebook India’s alleged political bias. While the Congress has alleged that Facebook India overlooked its own set of rules in taking action against ruling party leaders involved in spreading hate speech, the BJP has rubbished the charge and instead blamed the opposition leaders of indulging in activities on social media to promote hate. The Congress is now demanding a JPC probe into the alleged BJP-Facebook nexus.