Facebook removed Urdu ‘Photo Frame’ that called for death of Ahmadis and went viral in Pakistan

Since last week, a Facebook profile picture frame targeting Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community designed in Urdu language was going viral on social media and it was widely shared in Pakistan as well. Facebook confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that it has removed the profile frame as the social media giant continues to grapple with the proliferation of hate speech on the social network.

It is pertinent to note here that the ‘Profile Picture Frame’ was extensively used by Pakistani Facebook users after US President Donald Trump recently met several leading members of the Ahmadiyya community in the White House. These members included a representative from Pakistan’s Ahmadi community as well.

As you know that Profile Picture frames are filters Facebook users can add to their display pictures that often promote a cause, celebrate a holiday, or commemorate an event or tragedy. Each day, around the world millions of Profile Frames are used to celebrate important moments, to cheer teams on to victory, and to show support for special causes.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that Ahmadis were legally declared non-Muslims in Pakistan decades ago for believing that Mohammed (saw) is the last prophet of Allah. They have long been persecuted and widely hated in Pakistan due to their beliefs.

However, Facebook has taken this matter quite seriously as it doesn’t allow its users to spread violence and hate speech across its platform. As stated by a Facebook’s spokesperson;

“We do not tolerate any content — including anything shared within Profile Frames — that incites violence, and we remove this content whenever we become aware of it. We have removed the Profile Frames in question for violating our rules, and have ensured that they’re unavailable for future use.”

In a bid to curb hate speech and violence across its platform, Facebook has initiated a bold yet effective move to remove such accounts, pages and posts. Facebook has taken down over 2 billion fake accounts during a course of three months, January to March, this year. This massive account removal development marks a record high for the company as the number is quite identical to the monthly active users of Facebook which reached a figure of 2.38 billion in June.