Facebook "filters" content critical of controversial Art of Living's World Cultural Festival off Jamuna in Delhi

By A Representative
Facts of come to light suggesting that Facebook, world’s biggest social networking site, has sought block or filter posts critical of well-known preacher and Hindu religious guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, involved in a major environmental controversy for holding World Cultural Festival on the banks of Yamuna in Delhi.
A well-known Ahmedabad-based activist and social entrepreneur, Roshan Shah, has written to those responsible for handling the Facebook India Online Services Private Limited that his Facebook timeline (https://www.facebook.com/roshiley) for the last two days was flooded with “environmentalists’ and nationalists’ posts” which were “very critical” of the culture festival.
However, to his utter surprise, “all of a sudden this morning I saw no posts”, he said in his complaint lodged to the Facebook India Online Services Private Limited on March 12, even as sending it to three of its directors, Vikram Ravindra Mamadipudi, David William Kling, and Jaspal Singh Athwal.
“Even my posts on the same subject with Sri Sri and Ravi Shankar keywords did not show up”, Shah said, adding, these directors of Facebook India Online Services – which operates from Hitech City, Hyderabad, are “responsible for day to day operations of operations of facebook.com in India”.
Calling “content filtering” violation of Freedom of speech, Shah said, “Directors and team should be prosecuted and penalized for this”. Threatening legal action, he added, “The whole concept of Social Media goes for a toss here.”
Submitting that Facebook “is operating as Online Social Networking site with primarily user generated content”, Shah said, “Facebook users make online friends on Facebook and share content on own or friends’ timeline freely which ideally comes up and should come up in one or more of (a) other friends timeline; (b) friends of friends timeline and (c) general public timeline and d) followers and general public for public posts.”
“People who follow their friends on Facebook ought to see content of friends whom they follow first on priority over other general content which is not from friends excluding certain sponsored content”, he continued.
“Facebook tried to control social media content via unsuccessful attempt promoting free basics, where the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ruled in favour of net neutrality and Facebook thereby got a jolt on its Free Basics agenda”, Shah said.
He added, “Now to circumvent that agenda, Facebook has found a new illegal way of content filtering and making money by blocking content on timeline”, giving evidence through a youtube video which he shot about 10 am Indian Standard Time on March 12 regarding how this was done.

Linking the filtering of his Facebook posts with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation receiving Rs 2.5 crore from the Union Ministry of Culture for holding the World Culture Festival, Shah said, the Indian army was “used for bridge construction” and trees were “chopped off” – which “ticked off social media users on Facebook to slam consistently for the last two days on this act of Ravi Shankar and his team.”
The posts, he said, also slammed “Sri Sri’s collusion with Union government to abuse taxpayers’ money”, wondering if Facebook has now “another revenue model of content filtering”.
“Facebook can push its sponsored content”, Shah said, adding, however, it has “no right to filter my content or my or friends or user generated contents on timelines.”
Calling this “a dangerous model” which requires “immediate investigation and a written response from Facebook” on how “Rs 2.5 crore grant got filtered”, Shah said, “Even the National Green Tribunal has slapped Rs 5 crore fine on Art of Living Foundation”, yet, “Facebook is trying to help such criminals by filtering negative content is abetting crime.”

Comments

Academics urge Azim Premji University to drop FIR against Student Reading Circle

By A Representative A group of academics and civil society members has issued an open letter to the leadership of Azim Premji University expressing concern over the filing of a police complaint that led to an FIR against a student-run reading circle following a recent incident of violence on campus. The signatories state that they hold the university in high regard for its commitment to constitutional values, critical inquiry and ethical public engagement, and argue that it is precisely because of this reputation that the present development is troubling.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

UAPA action against Telangana activist: Criminalising legitimate democratic activity?

By A Representative The National Investigation Agency's Hyderabad branch has issued notices to more than ten individuals in Telangana in connection with FIR No. RC-04/2025. Those served include activists, former student leaders, civil rights advocates, poets, writers, retired schoolteachers, and local leaders associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Indian National Congress.

The ultimate all-time ODI XI: A personal selection of icons across eras

By Harsh Thakor* This is my all-time best XI chosen for ODI (One Day International) cricket: 1. Adam Gilchrist (W) – The absolute master blaster who could create the impact of exploding gunpowder with his electrifying strokeplay. No batsman was more intimidating in his era. Often his knocks decided the fate of games as though the result were premeditated. He escalated batting strike rates to surreal realms.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Aligning too closely with U.S., allies, India’s silence on IRIS Dena raises troubling questions

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The reported sinking of the Iranian ship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about international norms and the credibility of the so-called rule-based order. If indeed the vessel was attacked by the American Navy while returning from a joint exercise in Visakhapatnam, it would represent a serious breach of trust and a violation of the principles that govern such cooperative engagements. Warships participating in these exercises are generally not armed for combat; they are meant to symbolize solidarity and friendship. The incident, therefore, is not only shocking but also deeply ironic.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Search This Blog