T Raja Singh is the lone BJP MLA in Telangana.
Hyderabad:
T Raja Singh, the politician at the centre of the huge row that has erupted after the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook’s content policies favoured the ruling BJP, has rejected allegations that he makes communally loaded posts online and claimed that his official Facebook account was “hacked and blocked in 2018”.
In a video he tweeted on Sunday, Mr Singh said he is being “projected in such a way that I am the most dangerous in the entire world (like) when he (Raja Singh) says something on social media, then something or the other happens.”
“I have got to know many FB pages are using my name. Let me clarify I’m not having any official page, I’m not responsible for any of their post,” he tweeted.
Official Facebook Page
I have got to know many FB pages are using my name. Let me clarify I’m not having any official page, I’m not responsible for any of their post. pic.twitter.com/EPOQ7AisGZ
— Raja Singh (@TigerRajaSingh) August 16, 2020
In the report published on Friday, US newspaper quoted unnamed Facebook insiders who claimed that one of the India policy executives intervened in an internal communication to stop a permanent ban on Raja Singh after he allegedly posted communal, divisive content.
The report claimed that Facebook deliberately ignored disruptive content from members of the ruling BJP as well as right-wing voices and groups who have been “flagged internally”.
Raja Singh, the lone BJP MLA in Telangana who represents the Goshamahal assembly seat in Hyderabad, is no stranger to making controversial statements and run-ins with the police.
“I would like to tell the media that I am a person who works in national interest. Cite one example where I could be blamed for any social strife,” he said in the video.
“I have one official YouTube account and one official Twitter account. I have not posted any inflammatory comments on those accounts
He said he had complained to the Cyberabad police after his official Facebook was “hacked” in 2018 and that here has been no reply so far. He said he has never posted any inflammatory speeches on his official social media accounts. He alleged that there were many politicians in the country who made inflammatory comments, including leaders of the AIMIM.
Facebook on Monday said it “prohibits hate speech” and enforces policies “without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation”.
The Facebook hate speech issue has become the latest flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who heads the parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, said the panel may summon Facebook over the Wall Street Journal report. A fight erupted over this, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said Mr Tharoor had no right to do so without authorisation. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra backed the Congress leader. Mr Dubey has reportedly urged MPs of the BJP and its allies in the committee to write to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla against Shashi Tharoor.
