New Delhi: The Congress has written Tuesday to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The Congress has accused ‘Facebook India’ of ‘interfering’ with India’s electoral democracy. The party has demanded a time-bound high level inquiry into the conduct of ‘Facebook India’ leadership team, and their operations. It has also asked Mark Zuckerberg to personally look into the issue.
It should also be stated here that a police case has been filed against Facebook’s policy chief in India, Ankhi Das. The case has been filed in Chhattisgarh, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and inciting people. The executive has been at the centre of a huge controversy because of a report published in ‘Wall Street Journal’ (WSJ). The report stated that Facebook deliberately ignored disruptive content from members of the ruling BJP. Ankhi Das is said to be the executive behind the policy, WSJ reported.
In the Congress sent to Zuckerberg, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has made a certain demand. It said that pending internal investigation and submission of the report, the company should ‘consider a new team to lead Facebook India operations so as to not influence the probe’.
Also read: Facebook says it prohibits hate speech but there is more to do
The Congress and other opposition parties have attacked the social media giant for the last couple of days. They have also picked up Wall Street Journal’s regarding bias towards BJP leaders.
“Set up a high level inquiry by Facebook headquarters into the Facebook India leadership team and their operations. Submit a report to the Board of Facebook within one or two months. The report should also be made public,” Venugopal said in the letter.
Sharing the letter on his Twitter handle, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said Facebook needs to be questioned by Indians.
“We cannot allow any manipulation of our hard-earned democracy through bias, fake news and hate speech. As exposed by WSJ, Facebook’s involvement in peddling fake and hate news needs to be questioned. This should be done by all Indians,” Rahul tweeted.
See link: https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1295641052062384128
Facebook has said the company prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence. It had asserted that these policies are enforced globally without regard to political affiliation. However, Facebook, which counts India among its largest markets globally, acknowledged that ‘there is more to do’.
