Amid the ongoing political tussle involving social media company Facebook, a company spokesperson has clarified that the platform ‘prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence’.
The spokesperson said: ‘We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally regardless of anyone’s political position or party affiliation.’
The official said that the company is conducting regular audits of its processes to ensure fairness and accuracy.
The comments from the social media giant come a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) control Facebook and WhatsApp in India.
In a tweet, Gandhi wrote: ‘They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook.’
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted: ‘The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would certainly wish to hear from @Facebook about these reports & what they propose to do about hate-speech in India.’
Soon after, congress leaders Ajay Maken, Praveen Chakravarty and Rohan Gupta, demanded formulation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the matter.
The series of allegations began after a report by the Wall Street Journal claimed that the social media company had ignored alleged hate speeches by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The report further said that the company did so to avoid ruining its relationship with the Indian government.
The report also cited examples of BJP Telangana MP T Raja Singh and his statement about Rohingya Muslim immigrants. They claimed that Ankhi Das, Facebook’s top executive in India, opposed the application of hate-speech rules to members of the ruling BJP.
‘Ms Das, whose job also includes lobbying India’s government on Facebook’s behalf, told staff members that punishing violations from Mr Modi’s party would damage the company’s business prospects in the country, Facebook’s biggest global market by number of users, the current and former employees said,’ the report mentioned.
Denying all allegations, BJP Leader Ravi Shankar Prasad took to twitter, attacking the Congress.
Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us? https://t.co/NloUF2WZVY
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) August 16, 2020
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Gandhi and replied to his tweet saying, ‘Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us?’
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