Facebook has always been a centre of discussions- be it good or bad. Recently, Facebook was in the news for removing seven million posts that violated the platform’s privacy policy. However, now Facebook has been accused of not removing hate-triggering posts of certain BJP leaders. In this regard, Facebook summoned on Sep 2 by the Parliamentary Level to discuss social media misuse. This session is to be led by the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
Why Facebook is to be summoned?
Congress and BJP are the two always-at-odds political parties in India. Members of both these parties are always looking for chances to weigh the other down. Recently, a tweet by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi added more fuel to this ever-rising battle, dragging Facebook down with it.
Gandhi pointed out in his tweets that Facebook did not seem to imply the hate-speech policy to the members of the Indian ruling party. The members of Congress also wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, asking him to look into the team that operates Indian Facebook. They also urged Facebook CEO to change the entire team of Facebook India, accusing them of interfering in a democracy. Rahul Gandi shared this letter on his Twitter account, urging Indians to question Facebook.
We cannot allow any manipulation of our hard-earned democracy through bias, fake news & hate speech.
As exposed by @WSJ, Facebook’s involvement in peddling fake and hate news needs to be questioned by all Indians. pic.twitter.com/AvBR6P0wAK
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 18, 2020
Facebook summoned Sep 2
The Parliamentary Panel of India has summoned Facebook on September 2 over the issue of social media usage. This came right after the Panel leader Shashi Tharoor exclaimed that he and his fellow Congress members would like to hear a justification from the Facebook team. Tharoor’s words received a lot of criticism from many BJP leaders. BJPP MP Nishikant Dubey even accused Tharoor of wrongly using his leadership in the Parliamentary Panel.
The Parliamentary Panel has summoned the Indian Facebook team on September 2 to justify their bias towards the ruling party. The Panel also wants to listen to their views on safeguarding citizens’ rights, prevention of misuse and also about women security on the platform. The Tharoor-led Panel has also summoned the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to speak on the same.
Facebook’s Reaction
Facebook removed tons of posts triggering hate speech just a few days back. The social media giant still stands true to its policies and denies acting against them. A Facebook spokesperson also accepted that Facebook’s policies are the same globally and without any political influence.
Also, Read Happy Birthday Mark Zuckerberg!
