Author Taslima Nasreen has alleged that her account in Facebook was banned from use for seven days after she made a post criticising the recent communal violence that erupted in parts of Bangladesh during the Durga Pooja festival where the minority Hindu community came under attack for alleged desecration of the Qu'ran.
"Facebook has banned me for writing ''Islamists destroyed Bangladeshi Hindu houses & temples believing that Hindus placed Quran on Hanuman's thigh. But when it was revealed that Iqbal Hossain did that, not the Hindus, Islamists were silent, said and did nothing against Iqbal..." she revealed on Twitter. In March, Nasrin had alleged that Facebook blocked her account for 24 hours.
In a now deleted tweet, the author said she had also expressed support for Aarong, a Bangladeshi handicrafts store, whose decision to ask an employee to shave his beard in order to join as a salesman quickly turned controversial. "Islamists" had been attacking the store for the decision and her protest was silenced by Facebook, she claimed. Nasreen has been very vocal about the recent violence and has openly come out in support of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, mockingly comparing Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Haseena to the Emperor Nero, as someone who 'played the flute' when Hindu homes were burned.
Nasrin spoke out in 2017 against Facebook, saying that governments had banned her books and she was forced to flee her own country due to the threats, but even social media was censoring her. The Bangladeshi author who writes feminist literature was forced to flee the country and reside in India after threats from conservative religious groups.