Instagram and Facebook unblock hashtag ‘Sikh’, say it was ‘mistakenly blocked’ since March

“Some content in those posts goes against our Community Standards,” the warning message read.

Social media platforms Instagram and Facebook drew flak after the hashtags #Sikh and #Sikhism were blocked on both platforms. Although a worldwide campaign, which alleged bias by the company started only on Wednesday, the company while apologising for the ‘mistake’ admitted it had been blocked for almost three months.

The company in a statement said it first became aware of the hashtag being blocked on Wednesday, after feedback from members of the Sikh community. Instagram unblocked the hashtag soon after, but it Facebook several more hours to do the same.

The incident came to light when many Sikh people wanted to post about the anniversary of Operation Blue Star.

Why has Instagram blocked the hashtag #Sikh @instagram @mosseri?

In the same week that #Neverforget1984 trends on Twitter, Instagram seemingly conspires to suppress the truth about the atrocities of the 1984 Sikh genocide by censoring the faith of 27 million people. https://t.co/2JoHTYGYjY

— SikhPressAssociation (@SikhPA) June 3, 2020

Sikh politicians, artists and celebrities began tagging the two platforms and complained about what they said was discriminatory behaviour.

Ridiculous that @Facebook and @Instagram have both banned the hashtag #Sikh.

Will you join us in asking them to remove this ban? pic.twitter.com/arnSIg683G

— Simran Jeet Singh (@SikhProf) June 3, 2020

the hypocrisy of @facebook‘s approach to free speech:

https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/1x1.png

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

Hi @instagram, we see you blocked #Sikh from your hashtag list. Would appreciate if you could unblock it as it is providing important information and remembrance about attacks that took place in 1984 at the Golden Temple. 🙏🏽

— Panjabi Hit Squad (@PanjabiHitSquad) June 3, 2020

Just realised that the discriminatory move is not just limited to @instagram but has also expanded to @Facebook.
This can’t be ignored like a technical glitch because it’s not just one platform. Silencing hashtag #Sikh is an attempt to silence the voice of the Sikh community. pic.twitter.com/MNUyLw0xor

— Harjinder Singh Kukreja (@SinghLions) June 3, 2020

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

#sikh is being hidden on Instagram during the month of remeberance for Sikhs uno how fucked that is. This year probably seen the most posts and shares about 1984 and now they are trying to censor us. They don’t want people to know.

— guvlally (@onjobpreet) June 3, 2020

The most recent photos in #sikhism are still being blocked by @instagram! pic.twitter.com/vqNw9mhqST

— Amrit Kaur (@Amritkaur_bx) June 3, 2020

#Sikh is being hidden on Instagram when you click on it. You can’t even search it. It’s no coincidence that this is happening in the month of June. On the 36th year anniversary of the Sikh Genocide. @instagram

— 悟空 (@Gurinder94_) June 3, 2020

Following outrage, Instagram said it was unclear how exactly the block was imposed and how it took so long for the company to realise.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, replied to one such tweet saying, “Not sure what’s going on here, but we’re looking into it and will circle back. Thanks for calling it out.” Soon after, the hashtag was restored on Instagram. He also later added that they are ‘investigating why this happened.”

#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

This is an incredibly important, painful time for the Sikh community. We designed hashtags to allow people to come together and share with one another. It’s never our intention to silence the voices of this community, we are taking the necessary steps so this doesn’t happen again

— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) June 3, 2020

However, many were upset that the hashtag had been blocked since March 7 and the tech giants had failed to realise this. Many demanded an explanation for why it happened in the first place.

how do you just… ban an entire religious minority from the two largest social networks in the world for THREE MONTHS and not notice??? https://t.co/5MIZCBKW2P

— Aditya Mukerjee, the Otterrific 🦦 🏳️‍🌈 (@chimeracoder) June 4, 2020

So we’ve been blocked from Instagram for months and we just reported it? Come on, fam. https://t.co/jWBrnzNscP

— Jo Kaur (@SikhFeminist) June 4, 2020

This requires a more thorough explanation. #Sikh https://t.co/EVoc6hSZyX

— Jassa Ahluwalia (@OfficialJassa) June 4, 2020

Ok but why? What report? Whose report? What was the content that was reported? How does an ENTIRE hashtag get blocked over a report? https://t.co/MAASgCT1b7

— Amrit Kaur J.✒ (@JamzKaur) June 4, 2020

So you blocked #Sikh for three months by mistake. Really? Sikhism is world’s fifth-largest religion and the Sikh population is approx. 27 million. You made them invisible for 3 months. Members of your teams are so ignorant and stupid that they were not aware of the term Sikh. https://t.co/UoKGX6LYab

— Sandeep Singh ਸਨਦੀਪ ਸਿੰਘ (@PunYaab) June 4, 2020

i want to know why #sikh was blocked on march 7.

which team members reviewed it, why was it deemed inappropriate, and what’s being done to ensure this won’t happen again? https://t.co/TNmPD7usWQ

— lil decaf (@lildamanjot) June 3, 2020

There NEEDS to be a follow up to this tweet. It is incredibly important that there is an EXPLANATION to this. @InstagramComms

— Karam Singh (@itsKaramSingh) June 3, 2020

We want an explanation asap! You should never silence a community on your platform. #neverforget1984 #SikhLivesMatter #Sikh https://t.co/W6p9UUz1d1

— ‎ਸਿੰਘ (@singh84_) June 3, 2020

This is what happens when you let Machine Learning do all the heavy lifting. Manual review of actioning on Long-standing #hashtags is a simple thing you Product Manager should have thought of. https://t.co/Ned6YyQ7TJ

— Gagan Singh (@urbanturbanguy) June 3, 2020

The fact that this happened at all is appalling. No coincidence that it happened at a time where Sikhs are remembering and raising awareness for the 36th anniversary of the 1984 Sikh Genocide. Censorship is a very real problem. https://t.co/luQcFXIrsU

— Herm DeWalt (@hermd_) June 3, 2020

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been facing criticism after he decided not to act against posts by US President Donald Trump which many felt were an incitement to violence. Many Facebook staffers have openly criticised the decision and some have even reportedly left the company. Rival Twitter has been labelling some of Trump’s tweets, with one getting a label that it was “glorifying violence”.

Refusing to budge from his stand, Zuckerberg wrote in a post: “I know many people are upset that we’ve left the President’s posts up, but our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies.”