New Delhi: A leading Indian political YouTuber and a known critic of Modi govt was banned from posting to Facebook . However, his facebook page was restored a couple of hours later after thousands of Facebook and Tweeter users criticized this decision of social media giant .
Dhruv himself announced this on his Twitter page, “Today, Facebook banned my account for 30 days. What a coincidence that elections are 30 days away also and what a coincidence that my engagement rates are one of the biggest in India, competing with BJP’s top propaganda pages, including Modi’s official page,” he tweeted.
At around noon on Monday, he tweeted, “Thanks a lot for your support guys! Just opened Facebook and they have restored my account and removed the block.” He further wrote, ” Also, thank you Facebook for the prompt action and admitting the mistake!.”
Rathee’s account has been blocked owing to a post he recently shared on Facebook where he shared some paragraphs from the biography of Adolf Hitler. Facebook told the YouTuber that the post violated their community standards. Here is what he said about the reason given to him by FB :
“The reason they banned the account is because they say following post goes against community standards.
But in this post,
– Not a single abusive word
– Not a single disrespectful word
Is educating people about Hitler through Britannica encyclopedia against FB’s standards?” Rathee asked.
However, after restoring the page, Facebook has apologised for banning his page. “It looks like we made a mistake and removed something you posted on Facebook that didn’t go against our Community Standards. We want to apologize and let you know that we have restored your content and removed any blocks on your account related to this incorrect action,” the Facebook said in a notification to him.
Rathee, who has 1.7 million YouTube subscribers and over 550,000 followers on his Facebook page, often makes videos critical of prime minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). One of his most popular videos is an interview with a former insider of the BJP’s “IT Cell,” the social-media team that has come under fire in recent years for sharing propaganda and misinformation more effectively than other parties have.
May God protect truthful media !