Amid the controversy on social media platform Facebook, the Standing Committee on Information and technology will examine Facebook to seek the detail of manipulation of content.
On Sunday, committee chairman Shashi Tharoor had said the panel would like to hear from Facebook about the Wall Street Journal’s report and what the social media giant proposed to do about hate speech in the country, reported Times of India.
Shashi Tharoor on Sunday tweeted: “The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would certainly wish to hear from Facebook about these reports and what they propose to do about hate-speech in India.”
BJP & RSS control Facebook & Whatsapp in India.
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. pic.twitter.com/Y29uCQjSRP
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 16, 2020
The office of the Congress MP said that the Chairman of the Committee has said, “Our Parliamentary committee will, in the normal course, consider testimony under the topic ‘Safeguarding citizens’ rights & prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms. The subject is squarely within the IT Committee mandate and Facebook has been summoned in the past.”
In its reaction, Facebook said the company’s social media platform prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence, adding 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”.
In the report published on Friday, the Wall Street Journal’s report cited interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana after he allegedly made communally charged posts.
“We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “While we know there is more to do, we’re making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy,” the official added.
