Meta Removes Accounts Linked to BJP MLA Raja Singh

India Hate Lab flags hate speech, Meta purges accounts linked to BJP MLA Raja Singh

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Mohammed Rayees 20 Feb 2025 4:45 PM

News in short:

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has removed accounts linked to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh from both platforms following a complaint from the India Hate Lab (IHL). This action was taken under Meta's "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations (DOI)" policy. The IHL reported that Raja Singh had given 32 hate speeches in 2024, many of which explicitly incited violence against Muslims and Christians. The organization documented instances of his speeches being shared on Facebook and YouTube. This is not the first time Meta has taken action against Raja Singh. In 2020, he was banned from the platform after allegations of hate speech violation. However, his supporters then created new accounts to continue disseminating his content. The IHL report highlighted the role of social media in amplifying hate speech in India, especially during electoral events.

Hyderabad: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has dealt a major blow to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh by removing accounts linked to him from both the social media platforms following a detailed complaint filed by India Hate Lab (IHL), a US-based think tank.

Meta has taken action against social media accounts linked to Raja Singh under it’s ‘Dangerous Individuals and Organizations (DOI)’ policy.

According to India Hate Lab, two Facebook pages with over one million followers and three Instagram accounts with over 1,55,000 followers linked to the Goshamahal legislator were removed by the tech giant.

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Few days ago, the Washington-based think tank released a report ‘Social Media and Hate Speech in India’ which documented instances of 1,165 hate speeches in 2024 in India. The report highlighted that the most hate-speech incidents occurred around electoral events including General elections last year. It also explained the role played by social media platforms in amplifying hate speech events across the country.

Last year, Raja Singh gave 32 hate speeches in various programmes across the country. In 22 instances, he was found to be explicitly inciting violence, primarily against Muslims and, in some cases, against Christians. From these events, 16 speeches of the BJP leader were posted on YouTube while 13 shared on Facebook, according to the IHL report.

Meta has removed two @facebook groups linked to BJP leader T Raja Singh, with over 1 million members.

The action follows India Hate Lab’s report on hate speech and the role of social media platforms published last week. @csohate

1/3 pic.twitter.com/qSmzPhHmTy

— India Hate Lab (@indiahatelab) February 20, 2025

Facebook had banned Raja Singh from using its platform in September 2020 after an article in The Wall Street Journal on August 14 claimed the social media platform allegedly failed to take action against Raja Singh for violating hate speech rules of the company. Following the criticism, the company also removed five Facebook and Instagram profiles dedicated to him with millions of followers.

Later, the followers and supporters of Goshamahal MLA opened new accounts both on Facebook and Instagram and started operating them as proxy groups and pages dedicated to their leader.

The report further said accounts on Facebook such as Raja Singh (Bhagyanagar) MLA, Raja Singh (Dhoolpet) MLA, RAJA SINGH YUVA SENA (RSYS), and Tiger Raja Singh Official Group while on Instagram, four key accounts @rajasinghmla, @t.usharajasinghofficial, @t.rajabhaimla1, and @t.rajabhaimla3 were found actively sharing the content of the BJP leader.