Facebook bans BJP’s T. Raja Singh for violating hate speech rules

New Delhi: Facebook has banned a politician from India’s ruling party for violating hate speech rules, amid growing political storm over extremist content. Removal of BJP’s T. Raja Singh is about-face for the company and one that will be politically tricky.

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

Last month, T Raja Singh had claimed in a video on Twitter that he does not have any official Facebook page. “I have got to know many FB pages are using my name. Let me clarify I’m not having any official page, I’m not responsible for any of their posts,” he had said.

He further claims in the video that his Facebook account was “hacked and blocked” in 2018.

मैं जानता हूं मेरे नाम से कई पेज चल रहे है पर मैं बताना चाहता हु के मेरा कोई भी Official Facebook Page नही है।

I have got to know many FB pages are using my name. Let me clarify I’m not having any official page, I’m not responsible for any of their post. pic.twitter.com/EPOQ7AisGZ

— Raja Singh (@TigerRajaSingh) August 16, 2020

On 14 August, a report highlighting the challenges of monitoring content with a large social media userbase – specifically India – went viral. The report by The Wall Street Journal claimed that Facebook’s top public policy executive in India, Ankhi Das, “opposed applying hate-speech rules” to at least four individuals and groups linked with the BJP, despite being “flagged internally for promoting or participating in violence.”

Facebook employees reportedly found that the account of one of the individuals – Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh – should have been banned under a policy called “Dangerous Individuals and Organisations”. According to the policy, content that praises or supports activity such as “organised hate, mass murder, hate crimes, or terrorist attacks” is to be banned.

Das, however, allegedly told the employees that “punishing violations” by the politicians “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country”.

Facebook’s user base in India is the largest at 346 million, according to Statista.