Signature Campaign : Facebook’s unjustified banning of Sanatan Sanstha’s pages

India, since time immemorial, has been a beacon of inclusivity. In schools we teach children that a hallmark of Indian-ness is ‘Unity in diversity’. India has always embraced different cultures, be it the Islamic invaders or the expansionist Christians. India has welcomed different religions who now coexist peacefully here. Yet, we are now witnessing anti Hindu forces trying to stifle Hindu voices. These forces are also challenging the Constitutionally given right to practice, profess and propagate religion, as well as the freedom of speech. Pro-Hindus are being systematically targeted. The most recent example of this is being, Sanatan Sanstha’s Facebook Pages being banned by Facebook without any prior notice. Apart from this, Facebook has also deleted all Facebook posts which have links and articles from the Sanstha’s official website, www.Sanatan.org. This type of prejudiced action by Facebook has affected not just Sanatan Sanstha, but a host of other Hindu organizations and leaders. We wish to draw your attention to the following points in this regard.

Request the patriotic and Dharmik Hindu population of India to send the email petition !

Request you to please send the email with this demand to Hon’ble Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology by clicking on the below button. Request you to send a copy of the email to [email protected]
(Note: ‘Send Email’ button will work only on Mobile. Also please update your Email App to ensure proper working of email petition)

Examples of Facebook’s anti Hindu bias

1. Sanatan Sanstha is engaged in the spread of Spirituality, Hindu Dharma and values. On 3.9.2020, Facebook shut down (unpublished) the Sanstha’s ‘Sanatan Sanstha English’, ‘Sanatan Sanstha Marathi’ and Sanatan’s official profile page.
2. On 3.9.2020, two other pages used for spread of spirituality in regional languages, Sanatan Sanstha Karnataka and Sanatan Sanstha Belgaum were also shut down by Facebook.
3. Facebook also shut down the personal Facebook profiles of all the volunteers who were associated with the aforementioned pages.
4. Apart from this, Facebook has imposed an undeclared ban on Sanatan Sanstha’s official website www.Sanatan.org. All posts which mention the said website or material from the said website have been scrubbed from across the whole of Facebook. Anyone who attempts to post a link from the said website is greeted with a message that says that the link cannot be posted without any explanation.
5. On 4.9.2020, BJP MLA from Ghoshamahal, Telangana and pro-Hindu leader Shri. Rajasingh Thakur’s Facebook and Instagram pages were shut down. (Instagram is also owned by Facebook). MLA Rajasingh is a people’s representative, a public figure, how can Facebook block the page of a sitting MLA without any court order or government order?
6. The Facebook page of ‘Sudarshan News’ run by Shri. Suresh Chavhanke, a staunchly nationalist and pro Hindu journalist, was blocked by Facebook in a similar manner.
7. The Facebook page of OpIndia, an independent nationalist news portal, has been severely restricted by Facebook, which has limited the number of people who can view their content.
8. If we go back to 2012, Facebook had banned the Facebook page of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. The ban is still in force.

These are a few examples. There may be many other Hindu leaders and organizations who have been at the receiving end of Facebook’s antiHindu bias. To further unmask Facebook’s prejudice, we wish to present the following examples –

1. Dr Zakir Naik, the Islamic fundamentalist preacher who is currently on the run from Indian investigating agencies, has been charged with funding terrorist activity, influencing terrorists, money laundering. Yet there are over 20 Facebook pages that are currently active in his name. One of these pages alone has over 2.2 Crore followers.
2. Dr Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation has been banned by the Government of India. Yet there are over 30 Facebook pages of IRF that are still active.

It has become common place to vilify Hindu Dharma in the guise of secularism; but it is especially shocking that the social media giant Facebook is also indulging in this petty behaviour. After Sanatan Sanstha’s pages and the personal profiles of its volunteers were blocked by Facebook, it gave an unsubstantiated excuse that ‘Sanatan Sanstha is an organization that spreads hate in the community’. An email questioning Facebook as to how it came to this conclusion is still awaiting a reply. Furthermore, Facebook’s extrajudicial censoring of Sanatan’s website and its content looks like an attempt to stop the spread of knowledge on Spirituality and Hindu Dharma. Even the Government of India has not banned the Sanstha’s website, then on what basis can a foreign company that makes its money from content being freely shared, censor the website? This violates the constitutional right of the Sanstha’s volunteers to propagate Hindu Dharma (enshrined under Art 25 of the Indian Constitution).

India is a large market for Facebook. But time and again, Facebook has shown that it cares little for the sensibilities of Indians, especially the Hindus. Now through these biased actions it has shown that it does not care for the Constitution of India or the democratically elected representatives either. If Facebook is under the impression that it supersedes the authority of the Indian Government and Courts of law, then it is time that Facebook be schooled about it. The Indian Hindus will not tolerate such blatant anti Hindu behaviour. We are also confident that the Indian Parliament will also hold Facebook accountable for its transgressions. So we place the following requests before you –

1. The Government of India should direct Facebook to immediately restore the Facebook pages of Sanatan Sanstha and the personal profiles of the volunteers serving the said pages. Facebook should also be directed to tender an unconditional public apology. Should Facebook refuse to comply, the Government of India should take swift and stringent action against Facebook.
2. The Government of India should direct Facebook to immediately close all Facebook pages and accounts of individuals and organizations that have been classified as terror organizations, and have been banned by the Government. If Facebook fails to comply with this immediately, then Facebook should be banned in India for promoting / condoning terror.
3. The Government of India should summon Facebook’s higher-ups and demand  an explanation regarding their religious bias.

Facebook’s biased behaviour is an insult to the Hindus and to the Constitution of India. So we humbly request your good self and the Government of India to consider this issue seriously and dispense justice to the Hindu community and the sincere and selfless volunteers of Hindu organizations such as Sanatan Sanstha.