Internal turmoil: FB employees raise questions in open letter

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU : Facebook and its top lobbying executive in India, Ankhi Das, are facing questions internally from employees over how political content is regulated in its biggest market, according to sources with direct knowledge and internal posts seen by Reuters.

The world’s largest social network is battling a public-relations and political crisis in India after the Wall Street Journal reported that Das opposed applying the company’s hate-speech rules to a politician from PM Narendra Modi’s party who had in posts called Muslims traitors.

An open letter written to Facebook’s leadership by 11 employees on one internal platform, and seen by Reuters, demands company leaders acknowledge and denounce “anti-muslim bigotry” and ensure more policy consistency. The letter also demanded that Facebook’s “policy team in India (and elsewhere) includes diverse representation.” “It is hard not to feel frustrated and saddened by the incidents reported ... We know we’re not alone in this. Employees across the company are expressing similar sentiment,” said the letter. “The Muslim community at Facebook would like to hear from leadership on our asks.”

“While we know there is more to do, we’re making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits,” said the company. After the article, Facebook India head Ajit Mohan defended Das, whose title is Director, Public Policy, India, South & Central Asia, and the company’s policies in an internal community post, also seen by Reuters. The WSJ “article does not reflect the person I know or the extraordinarily complex issues we face everyday that benefits from Ankhi and the Public Policy team’s expertise,” Mohan wrote. A spokesman for the WSJ did not respond to a request for comment. Das hasn’t commented. Her sister Rashmi, who has publicly acknowledged her ties to a student wing close to the BJP, told India Today TV on Tuesday, “we sisters are made of very stern stuff.”