Facebook bans MLA Raja Singh over hate speech

Facebook on Thursday banned BJP MLA Raja Singh from Goshamahal assembly constituency in Hyderabad from its platform and Instagram for his hate speech against Muslims. The MLAs Facebook page has been suspended after a report which claimed that the social media giant had biased towards the MLA by relaxing their hate speech norms for members of the BJP.

Reacting over it, the MLA said that he was very happy about the development. He further alleged that he had no access to his verified page for the last two years. "The official account was removed in 2018 itself. There were several fake accounts being operated on my name and I have even written to Facebook many times regarding this," he said.

In a statement, the Facebook spokesperson said that Raja Singh's account has been suspended for violating the policy prohibiting those content that promotes or engage in violence and hate. "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to take the decision of removing his Facebook account," the statement reads.

It may be notified that the MLA Raja Singh took to Twitter had claimed that he does not have any official Facebook page and is not responsible for the content on the FB pages.

On Tuesday, Union Minister for IT Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg alleging that the social media platform's employees of supporting people from a political susceptibility that lost successive elections, and abusing the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers.