Kapil Mishra speech encouraged violence, says Zuckerberg

NEW DELHI: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's reference to the threat issued by Delhi BJP

leader Kapil Mishra against anti-government protesters as an example of hate speech that incites violence is likely to revive the debate over the Delhi Police's refusal to act against ruling party politicians for their role in the communal disturbances that took the lives of over 50 people this February.

Zuckerberg was speaking to Facebook employees on June 2 about what constitutes social media incitement. Though he did not directly name Mishra, the quote he cited made it clear that is who he was referring to:

“You know, if somebody is actually going to encourage violence, I think in general, you just — you just don't want that content up. But our policies around incitement of vio

lence, you know, have pretty — have some clear precedents right around if people have to be calling for violence or targeting specific individuals. There have been examples of government officials around the world, we've taken them down. There was a

legislator in Hong Kong who called for the police to come in and clear out and kill the protesters to restore order in society. You know, that was — that's obviously inciting and calling for violence. We took that down. And there have been cases in India, for example, where someone said, “Hey, if the police don't take care of this, our supporters will get in there and clear the streets.” That is kind of encouraging supporters to go do that in a more direct way, and we took that down. So we have a precedent for that.” (emphasis added)

Zuckerberg's interaction was held amid Facebook being criticised for its failure to take down the posts of Donald Trump in the wake of massive #BlackLivesmatter protests.