Weeks after the Wall Street Journal published a controversial report claiming that Facebook had allegedly favoured ruling BJP through their content policies, the social media giant Facebook has now banned BJP MLA T Raja Singh from its platform and Instagram for allegedly violating its policy around content promoting violence and hate. However, the MLA has said that he does not any active account on Facebook, and the accounts carrying his name which were banned are fake and he is not associated with them.
“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,” Facebook released a statement. In its statement, Facebook claimed that the process for evaluating potential violators is “extensive” and it is what led them to take a decision to remove his account.
The decision to ban the accounts that were allegedly associated with the BJP MLA came amidst the constant pressure and bullying from left-liberals and the Congress party on Facebook over allegations of favouring BJP over handling of its social media content.
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The WSJ report had quoted unnamed Facebook insiders claiming that one of the India policy executives had allegedly intervened in an internal communication to stop a permanent ban on Raja Singh after he allegedly posted communal, divisive content.
Interestingly, the decision of Facebook to ban accounts that are allegedly connected to T Raja came a day after the company’s representatives were summoned by a Parliamentary panel headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Raja welcomes Facebook ban on fake accounts
Following the ban, T Raja welcomed Facebook’s decision to ban many fake accounts that were being run on the social media site in his name. The popular Telangana legislator said he was thankful to the social media giant for removing all illegal accounts that were being run in his name.
He also urged Facebook to allow him to re-open his official account, which was hacked in 2018. Singh said he would write to Facebook to request it to permit him to re-open his official account.
“I have learnt that Facebook has removed all accounts in my name. My followers and workers had these accounts. Facebook has taken a good step because all these accounts and pages were being operated illegally without my knowledge,” Raja Singh said to the media.
“At the same time, I request Facebook to permit me to re-open my official account. It was hacked in 2018. I am ready to submit the proof in this regard,” he said.
Raja Singh is the only BJP MLA in Telangana representing the Goshamahal assembly seat in Hyderabad.
No Facebook account, says T Raja
Following the WSJ controversy, BJP MLA T Raja Singh had categorically denied of having any official Facebook page. In a video on Twitter last month, Raja Singh had claimed that he did 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.
Raja Singh had also said that he did not run any pages or accounts on Facebook. In August, disowning the communally-loaded posts, BJP leader Raja had said that his official Facebook account was “hacked and blocked in 2018”.
Interestingly, the BJP legislator also tagged a letter dated October 8, 2018, that addressed to additional deputy commissioner of police, Hyderabad, complaining him about the hacking of his official Facebook page (RajaSinghOfficial).
Raja had also said that he had one official YouTube account and one official Twitter account.
In the video he tweeted on August 16, Singh said he was being “projected in such a way that I am the most dangerous in the entire world (like) when he (Raja Singh) says something on social media, then something or the other happens.”
