Facebook censoring Sikhs during #SikhGenocide Week
Social media giant Facebook has been found to be removing content from, temporary blocking or permanently disabling the accounts of Sikhs and Sikh organisations during Sikh Genocide Week.
This week of remembrance is dedicated to the thousands of Sikhs who were killed in mass murder supported by police and organised by the Indian state in November 1984. The Sikh Press Association has received complaints today from over a dozen Sikh organisations about having been censored on Facebook.
Places of worship, Sikh educational and media organisations, family advice pages, as well as activists and Sikh historical forums have found posts restricted, banned and even whole pages removed. The censorship has occurred at the peak of #SikhGenocide awareness week and the day before posts en masse in support of the #FreeJaggiNow campaign were expected.
The censoring of social media profiles has become an urgent issue of free speech for Sikhs worldwide. Facebook and Instagram were both discovered to have blocked the #Sikh hashtag on their platforms in June this year.
The social media giants chose to block the hashtag at a time when Sikhs worldwide were commemorating the atrocities committed against Sikhs in India in June 1984. They then invited several Sikh organisations as “community stakeholders” to discuss the censorship. Facebook and Instagram officials attempted to explain what occurred when #Sikh was blocked, stating that it was down to what was described as a “perfect storm” of mistakes after a “malicious” attack was made against the word to have it blacklisted through pornographic posts.
However, this latest act by Facebook throws the integrity of those words into question yet again. Many Sikhs believe that the censorship came as a direct result of pressure from the Indian government to silence Sikhs about their suffering at its hands. There have been instances of Sikh diaspora accounts being censored by social media companies for violating Indian law.
Sikh Activists UK is one group that has consistently been censored by social media companies for sharing posts highlighting the atrocities committed during the Sikh Genocide. The group recently adopted the Sikh Activist UK handle after the Sikh Youth UK account was censored by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Today it announced that Facebook permanently removed and unpublished the Sikh Youth UK account.
Sikh human rights group the World Sikh Organization of Canada has released a report on the crackdown on Sikh social media by Indian authorities.
The report entitled “Enforcing Silence: India’s War on Sikh Social Media” examines recent developments and offers suggestions to social media platforms with respect to Sikh content.
The group is currently calling for screenshots and further information from the community about the issue.
Sikh advisory group Sikh Council UK put out a statement on the issue, adding: “It’s abhorrent that the followers of a major world religion are facing this level of censorship.”
“Censoring of the truth. Even the video of our local young Singhs and Kaurs meditating on God and singing the Sikh national anthem go against Facebook standards. Sad times,” said Juspreet Singh Kundi, South London Sikh Youth.
“Truth is being censored. But we at South London Sikh Youth will continue to spread the truth, uplift people with our amazing history. Our history has had some amazing Singhs and Kaurs. who we learn from even today by reading about the way they lived, spread love to all humans and stood up for truth with no fear. True saint soldiers. We stand up for injustices everywhere. And be the voice for the voiceless. We fight on. We fight for truth till our last breath with Guru Granth Sahib Ji’s blessings and with the almighty Vaheguroo’s blessings no one can stop us. AAKAAALLLLLLUUHHHH”
Some groups, such as Sikh lobby group The NSYF, felt the censorship was in direct response to the Khalistan movement, and criticised Sikh bodies that failed to treat it as such.
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