June 4, 2020
Washington DC – Yesterday, Facebook acknowledged that they have been silencing the international Sikh community by blocking the use of hashtag #Sikh on Instagram and Facebook platforms. SALDEF immediately reached out to Facebook to demand a reversal of this block, and to solicit answers on why this happened. This week, Sikhs across the world remember the shaeedi (martyrdom) of their 5th Guru, Guru Arjun Sahib, and also remember the anniversary of the Indian government’s 1984 invasion of the Harmandir Sahib Complex, and dozens of other Sikh historical sites in India. Facebook initially corrected the issue on Instagram, and after SALDEF’s continued pressure and engagement, they allowed the use of #Sikh on its flagship Facebook platform.
“We appreciate Facebook’s statement on the incident, and agree that this is ‘an incredibly important, painful time for the Sikh community.’ We also appreciate their stated commitment to not silencing our community,” said Director of Communication Gujari Singh. “It is nevertheless disturbing that this incident occurred and may not have been corrected without our intervention. We understand Facebook’s commitment to open discussion and free speech, even though that provides a forum for hateful views that were not blocked. During the time #Sikh became unavailable, #whitepower continued to be openly used. That this silencing of Sikhs came at a historically significant moment for our community raises serious questions and we look forward to a more thorough explanation and plan for future protections from these types of incidents from Facebook in the coming days.”
“The blocking of the hashtag #Sikh by Facebook went directly against their mission and in fact effectively silenced members of the 5th largest religion in the world. We are continuing to put pressure on Facebook to find out why this happened. It is unacceptable for a platform like Facebook to silence an entire population and religion with no real explanation,” said Kiran Kaur Gill SALDEF Executive Director. “The gravity of the situation was compounded by the fact that this happened during a very sensitive anniversary of the attack on the Sikh Community in 1984, as many in the Sikh community are mourning and commemorating their loved ones.”
Facebook has over 2.5 billion users internationally and has become an important platform for communicating and organizing. Users internationally rely on Facebook to be an unbiased platform that allows for free thought and expression. There is no reason that #Sikh should have been blocked. It is unsettling that so quickly a single platform can silence a population of over 27 million people internationally.
This is not the first incident SALDEF has worked on regarding censorship with Facebook/Instagram. In December 2018, former SALDEF Media Fellow Vishavjit Singh had political cartoons removed from Instagram that highlighted the sentencing of Sajjan Kumar, for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh Pogroms in India.To date, Instagram has refused to unblock the posts and would not respond or give any explanation as to their actions.
SALDEF hopes that Facebook will again work in a constructive manner as they did in 2010 when our organizations partnered together to remove over 45 Anti-Sikh pages from Facebook’s platform.
At this time, there continues to be unresolved issues that require Facebook to provide answers. SALDEF will continue to work with Facebook on these unresolved issues and find out why this happened and what steps they are taking to ensure the Sikh community and other communities looking to exercise their free speech, that this will never happen again.
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About SALDEF: Founded in 1996, SALDEF is a national civil rights, advocacy, and educational organization. Its mission is to empower Sikh Americans by building dialogue, deepening understanding, promoting civic and political participation, and upholding social justice and religious freedom for all Americans.