NEW DELHI: Facebook has banned an outspoken right-wing Indian politician for spreading hate speech about Muslims as the social media giant battles accusations of bias over its handling of rival parties in the key market.

T. Raja Singh, a regional lawmaker for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, was blocked “for violating our policy prohibiting those that promote or engage in violence and hate from having a presence on our platform,” a Facebook spokesman said.

An “extensive” process was followed in making the decision to block Raja Singh, the spokesman added.

Raja, who made headlines for reportedly saying that Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar should be shot, will now be put on a Facebook list of “dangerous individuals”.

He told AFP he would fight the ban and that Facebook’s action was an attack on Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

“They (Facebook) are targeting the BJP through me,” Raja Singh said, calling the ban “absolutely wrong”.

“It’s an intentional move against the BJP,” he said.

Facebook has been caught in the middle of accusations of bias from rival sides in India’s feverish political battlefield. India is the American firm’s biggest market in terms of number of users.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2020