Although the Facebook pages of the Bodu Bala Sena and Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera have been banned, hundreds of Facebook pages and profiles are still in operation spreading racist sentiments among Sri Lankans.
'Racist' Facebook pages and profiles are operated by "Sinhala-Buddhist" extremists as well as Muslim extremists. While Sinhala extremist call for the elimination of the Muslim community of Sri Lanka, Muslim extremist pages urges Muslim to embark on 'Jihad' in Sri Lanka. Such pages and profiles strongly contravene terms and conditions of Facebook - which do not allow racist content in its social media space.
Facebook’s terms of service, the “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities”, clearly state: “You will not post content that: is hate speech”. Hate speech can target either a person or a group of people. It includes speech targeting all people of a particular race, nationality, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, sexuality, gender identity, gender, or on the basis of a medical condition or disability.
However, in Sri Lanka, Facebook pages pay little or no attention to the anti-hate speech policy of Facebook. The Bodu Bala Sena and Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Facebook pages were banned by Facebook after they received a large number of complaints about the two pages.
