Social Networking site Instagram blocks the hashtag #sikh and then unblocks it

As per reports Instagram has received quite the backlash from Twitter users because the social networking site decided to block the hashtag #sikh on its platform for a short period of time. Just over five months after Facebook and Instagram had been seen restricting the #sikh hashtag for some uses, we now see them blocking it on Instagram. At that time Instagram responded to the user by saying that the hashtag was “mistakenly blocked” earlier in March.

Amid the farmers’ protests against the Farm Bill in the capital and with Sikh farmers out in the forefront, battling it, this block was not received well by the people.

Reports suggest that if you try to search the hashtag on Instagram it does not show any posts. Instead, it displays Posts Hidden along with the message “To make sure only the most relevant posts are shown, we’ve hidden some posts that may be private or low quality”. Some users also reported that the posts have been blocked on Facebook as well.

Shortly after the said concern was raised by some users, Instagram started showing a small number of posts.

Instagram has over 2.5 million posts on the platform with the same #sikh hashtag.

NDTV’s Gadgets 360 reached out to both Instagram and Facebook and received a statement saying that “the #sikh hashtag was temporarily blocked because of reports from the community for violating its Community Guidelines, the Facebook spokesperson said and it also confirmed that the hashtag has now been unlocked

Facebook and Instagram had blocked the #sikh hashtag on their platforms earlier in June. It was unblocked shortly after several users reported the issue on social media.

“Our processes fell down here, and we’re sorry,” Instagram had said.

Apart from censoring content carrying the #sikh hashtag, earlier this year Facebook was also seen blocking messages on Instagram that included the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.