54 ex-bureaucrats write to Facebook CEO, seek audit of hate-speech policy

NEW DELHI: A group of 54 former bureaucrats have written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to perform a serious audit of the implementation of the social media company’s hate-speech policy in India in a manner that its India policy head, Ankhi Das, is not in a position to influence investigations.

“We are writing to you in the expectation that you will make serious efforts to audit the implementation of Facebook’s hate speech policy in India and, while such an audit is underway, ensure that the present Public Policy Head of Facebook, India, is not in a position to influence the investigations,” the former All India Service Officers said in a statement on Monday.

The controversy was spotlighted by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month in a report that said Facebook India intervened in content moderation processes to ensure hate speeches by a BJP leader were not taken down – a claim the company has since denied. Facebook India on Friday evening reiterated that it acts in an unbiased manner. WSJ named Ankhi Das in the report.

The 54 former officers include ex-indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Salahuddin Ahmad, Wahajat Habibullah and Harsh Mander.

The letter said Facebook had “failed to implement its own policy of discouraging hate speech in India, or has implemented it in a clearly partisan manner.”

The former officers also highlighted the fact that posts on Facebook have often to led to hate crime in India, including lynchings and torture, primarily of Muslims and oppressed castes.

“...Commercial interests at the cost of human lives? If these are the crass calculations Facebook indulges in, it is no surprise that the calculus of hate is spreading like a virus in many parts of the world,” the letter said.

HT reached out to Facebook for a comment, but received no response as of press time.