Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesperson said on Monday that the company’s policies are the same all over the world.
New Delhi| The BJP and Congress sparred once again, this time on the issue of ‘control’ of Facebook and WhatsApp in the country.
A Wall Street Journal report made some startling revelations claiming that the Facebook in India did not take action against hate speech made by BJP leaders and Hindu Hardliner organisations. The efforts to ban these leaders from the platform was blocked by Facebook’s public policy executive Ankhi Das who is known as the company’s lobbyist in Delhi.
After the report came out, Congress raised the issue and demanded a joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry into the matter, citing media reports.
Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesperson said on Monday that the company’s policies are the same all over the world. “We ban hate speech and content without any political status / party affiliation. We are constantly working for fairness and accuracy. Regular audits are done for this,” the spokesperson said.
The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has questioned Facebook’s impartiality in its report citing current and former employees. The WSJ claimed in its report that Facebook had deliberately not acted against BJP leaders and some groups in taking action against the ‘hate speech’ post.
The report said that Facebook’s policy director in India, Aankhi Das, opposed the enforcement of Facebook’s hate speech rules against BJP leader T Raja Singh. It feared that Facebook may lose business in India if it takes action against ruling party leader. T Raja is a BJP MLA from Telangana. He has been accused of giving inflammatory statements.
The report also said that Aankhi Das also helped the BJP in campaigning. During the last Lok Sabha election, Facebook had said that it has removed the unofficial Facebook page of the Pakistan Army, India’s political party Congress and pages containing false news related to the BJP.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi reacting to the report said that BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh control Facebook and WhatsApp in India. “They spread fake news and hate through them and use them to influence voters. Eventually, the American media revealed the truth about Facebook,” he said.
Union Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad on the other hand said, “Losers who cannot influence people in their own party say that BJP, Sangh control the world. Before the election, you were caught red-handed collaborating with Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, to weaponize data. Now they are demanding inquiry.”
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