Facebook has blocked “thousands” of
accounts in India for using the word “chutia.” In Hindi, the word is
slang for “c***” but it also refers to a community in the Indian state
of Assam.
The
All Assam Chutia Students’ Union (AACSU) yesterday criticized Facebook
for blocking “thousands” of accounts in the Chutia community. Facebook
likely believes the accounts are fake or just spam, but AACSU argues
it’s all a big misunderstanding. The student organization burned a
Facebook effigy in the five upper Assam districts of Tinsukia,
Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, and Golaghat on Monday and demanded public
apology from the social networking giant.
“Facebook has blocked the accounts of all the subscribers belonging
to the Chutia community of Assam thinking the names are false and
fabricated,” AACSU general secretary Jyotiprasad Chutia told a press
conference in Jorhat, according to The Times of India.
“For Chutia being an abusive word in the Hindi language, Facebook
authorities thought that the account holders are fake and fabricated.
But, they are still unknown to the fact that Chutia is an ethnic tribe
of Assam which has a rich historical background in the state history. We
are very unhappy with authority as they have even failed to verify the
matter seriously before taking a step like blocking thousands of our
accounts. We think it may be a deep-rooted conspiracy against our
community and so we warn them to abstain from such acts in the future.
They even failed to verify the truth when they blocked the accounts of
some prominent personalities and popular artists like Krishnamoni
Chutia, who belongs to our community. We protested this negligence and
demanded them to reactivate our accounts immediately.”
Chutia is a small community in Assam, a northeastern state of India.
The official languages in Chutia are Assamese, Bengal, and Bodo. In
India, the official languages are Hindi and English.
In Hindi, “chutia” or “chutiya” is a slang word roughly translates to
“c***” in English. Those who use it are usually referring to someone as
a “douchebag” or “moron” or “f***er” (according to Urban Dictionary).
It’s not clear how all the accounts in question were blocked: was it
automatic or did someone authorize each of the blocks? I have contacted
Facebook and will update you if I hear back.
I’d like to thank my colleague Manan Kakkar for tipping me off on this story.