Amritsar: It has come into light that Facebook and Instagram blocked hashtag “#Sikh” for a number of users. The issue was highlighted on Twitter by a number of Sikh netizens. The social media giants have now unblocked #sikh hashtag and also apologised for blocking it.
Some reports say that the blocking of the hashtag appears to be happening selectively as some users could not search for the term, but results were showing up for others.
“Gadgets 360 has reached out to Facebook for more details about why #Sikh was hidden, and why this appears to have been done only for some users but not all”, reads a report by NDTV Gadgets 360.
The issue was raised by many Twitter users, including Khalsa Aid CEO Ravi Singh.
It’s absolutely crazy that @Facebook has banned the #Sikh hashtag !!!!
Is mr #Zuckerberg now banning people who are #Sikh ?!??
This must be THE STUPIDEST ban ever !!! @fbnewsroom @facebookapp pic.twitter.com/M5gQc0PypF
— ravinder singh (@RaviSinghKA) June 3, 2020
A tweet by Rupi Kaur received response from Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram and former head of News Feed.
the hypocrisy of @facebook‘s approach to free speech:
zuckerberg says fb’s principles prohibit him from blocking trump as he incites violence & hate.
meanwhile as sikhs raise their voice to mark the injustices of 1984: sikh hashtags are blocked.@instagramcomms do better. https://t.co/wk53NvKbIz pic.twitter.com/vMEw7f02Gv
— rupi kaur (@rupikaur_) June 3, 2020
Not sure how the #sikh hashtag ended up blocked. It’s now unblocked on Instagram, we are working to unblock it on Facebook, and we’re investigating why this happened.
— Adam Mosseri ? (@mosseri) June 3, 2020
Instagram’s public relations team wrote on Twitter: “We have unblocked the hashtag #sikh on Instagram and are working to unblock #sikh on Facebook. We’re investigating why this happened. We will follow up here later today with more information”.
#sikh is now unblocked on Facebook.
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) June 3, 2020
We became aware that these hashtags were blocked today following feedback we received from the community, and quickly moved to unblock them. Our processes fell down here, and we’re sorry.
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) June 3, 2020