Facebook, Instagram unblock #Sikh after 'mistakenly blocking it on March 7'

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Facebook and Instagram have unblocked the “#sikh” hashtag after nearly three months. The company said that it only became aware of the blocked hashtag earlier today after receiving feedback from the community.

Facebook said that the hashtag was accidentally blocked as the result of a report in March that was inaccurately reviewed by its team. However, both Facebook and Instagram unblocked the hashtag soon after learning it was blocked.

#sikh is now unblocked on Facebook.

— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) June 3, 2020

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. — Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) June 3, 2020

Users searching for posts tagged #sikh were greeted with error messages while the hashtag was blocked. The error messages were found as users tried to post about Operation Blue Star on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in the year 1984.

Why has Instagram blocked the hashtag #Sikh@instagram@mosseri? In the same week that #Neverforget1984 trends on Twitter, Instagram seemingly conspires to suppress the truth about the atrocities of the 1984 Sikh genocide by censoring the faith of 27 million people. https://t.co/2JoHTYGYjY — SikhPressAssociation (@SikhPA) June 3, 2020

It is unclear how the block came about or why it took the company so long to realise it. In a subsequent tweet, the social media giant said, “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.”