3rd June 2020 • article
Instagram apologizes for banning '#Sikh' hashtag on Facebook and Instagram
On Wednesday evening Instagram admitted the hashtag '#Sikh' had been banned on its platform. It had also been blocked on Facebook.
It later said the hashtag had been unblocked but gave no further explanation (see update below).
Facebook owns Instagram along with WhatsApp.
Some users said the hashtag had been blocked for weeks, including on 1st June, when Sikhs remember the start of the assault on the Golden Temple by the Indian Army in 1984.
UPDATE: Instagram offered more last night:
"Thanks for your patience today. We investigated this issue and found that these hashtags were mistakenly blocked on March 7th following a report that was inaccurately reviewed by our teams."
"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."
"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."
Barfi Culture has sent them a media request for more information but haven't had a response.
It later said the hashtag had been unblocked but gave no further explanation (see update below).
Facebook owns Instagram along with WhatsApp.
We have unblocked the hashtag #sikh on Instagram and are working to unblock #sikh on Facebook. We're investigating why this happened. We will follow up here later today with more information.
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) June 3, 2020
Some users said the hashtag had been blocked for weeks, including on 1st June, when Sikhs remember the start of the assault on the Golden Temple by the Indian Army in 1984.
I am quite interested as to why it was blocked for weeks until it was brought to your attention today. We need an explanation.
— Nav (@nav_bhangu) June 3, 2020
Don't just investigate.
— Naureen Singh (@Naureenksingh) June 3, 2020
Take steps to ensure this doesn't happen again not just to Sikhs, but to any other marginalized community on your platform.
UPDATE: Instagram offered more last night:
"Thanks for your patience today. We investigated this issue and found that these hashtags were mistakenly blocked on March 7th following a report that was inaccurately reviewed by our teams."
"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."
"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."
Barfi Culture has sent them a media request for more information but haven't had a response.
About us
Barfi Culture is a news-magazine on people of South Asian heritage living in Europe and North America. We don't cover South Asia directly.
Sign up!
We publish Updates and Articles to our website every day. At 5pm every Monday - Friday we also post them to Twitter and WhatsApp. Weekly updates by email.
Email (weekly)
WhatsApp (once a day)
Your number will never be shared.
Your number will never be shared.
Twitter (daily)
Follow @barfi_culture
Follow @barfi_culture
Facebook (daily)
Instagram (daily)