Political analyst and self-styled fact-checker Dhruv Rathee tweeted early on Monday that his Facebook account had been banned for 30 days. However, access to his account was restored by noon on Monday (Indian Standard Time), with Rathee producing a screenshot of a purported apology from Facebook.
Since the advent of the Narendra Modi government in 2014, Rathee has emerged as a very popular source of information, primarily producing videos that fact-checked claims and actions of the BJP government. Rathee's YouTube channel has over 1.7 million followers, while his Facebook page is followed by over 504,000 people and Twitter handle by 220,000 people.
The reason they banned the account is because they say following post goes against community standards 👇
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) March 17, 2019
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? pic.twitter.com/xpxMatCbeX
One factor that has made Rathee unique among social media fact-checkers is that most of his work is in Hindi, having the potential for significantly higher reach than similar channels.
Rathee drew a link to the Facebook ban and the approaching elections. Rathee tweeted, “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.”
In a follow-up tweet, Rathee claimed Facebook had banned him for uploading sections of a biography on Adolf Hitler from Encyclopaedia Britannica on March 15. Countering the Facebook charge the post went “against community standards”, Rathee tweeted it did not contain one “abusive” or “disrespectful word”. Rathee also asked “Is educating people about Hitler through Britannica encyclopedia against FB’s standards?” Congress IT cell chief Divya Spandana retweeted Rathee's post, increasing the likelihood of the Facebook ban being linked to politics.
Thanks a lot for your support guys! Just opened Facebook and they have restored my account and removed the block.
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) March 18, 2019
Also, thank you @facebook for the prompt action and admitting the mistake! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/yueIuzqxTv
By 12pm on Monday, Rathee tweeted access to his Facebook account had been restored. Rathee thanked supporters who posted about the ban on him. Rathee produced a screenshot purported to be from Facebook, stating "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 apologise..." Rathee's early-morning Tweet on the Facebook ban got over 4,000 retweets.
Rathee, whose location on YouTube has been listed as Germany, has emerged as a notable critic of the Modi government's actions. Rathee has uploaded detailed videos on various contentious issues such as demonetisation, the Rafale deal, unemployment figures, fake news and the post-Pulwama skirmishes with Pakistan. The description on his YouTube handle states, “I educate people on social, political and environmental issues facing India, wishing to incite critical thinking and awareness among masses.”
Not surprisingly, Rathee has earned the wrath of BJP supporters often. Many have accused him of being a supporter of the Aam Aadmi Party. In May last year, a police complaint was filed against Rathee by a BJP supporter after the former produced a video of an interaction with a member of the BJP's IT cell. Not surprisingly, Rathee produced a video on the police complaint, giving a point-by-point rebuttal of the case against him!
