BJP,Congslugfestoverwhois‘sleepingwith’FB

The Congress and the BJP are slugging it out over whom they are colluding with online.

It all started with Rahul Gandhi accusing the BJP and the RSS of manipulating Facebook and Whatsapp in India and using the two platforms to "spread fake news and hatred and influence the electorate." To buttress his contention, Gandhi shared a report, published in American daily Wall Street Journal.

Prasad, not the kind to let such a barbed comment pass, responded in kind saying that the Congress was caught red-handed colluding with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook for using data before elections and was now falsely accusing the BJP of doing the same.

Firing on all cylinders, Prasad said, "Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by the BJP and the RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with

Cambridge Analytica and Facebook to weaponize data before the elections and now have the gall to question us?" "The fact is that today access to information and freedom of expression has been democratised. It is no longer controlled by retainers of your family and that is why it hurts. By the way, haven't yet heard your condemnation of the Bangalore riots. Where did your courage disappear?" Prasad added in a subsequent tweet. The Congress raised the decibel level further by demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into alleged violations by Facebook and its messaging service. Addressing a virtual press conference, Congress spokesperson and former Union Minister Ajay Maken said: "There are 40 crore Indians on WhatsApp and over 28 crore on Facebook. So, a probe is necessary into the commercial dealings, propagation of hate content, and connection of FB and WhatsApp employees with BJP." Congress had raised the issue with the Facebook team in India. Said Congress Data Dept Chairman Praveen Chakravorty: "I met the WhatsApp CEO and raised the issue after the Congress Working Committee took it up, and the CEO heard me politely but did not act." "What gave Facebook the guts and the gumption to intrude, interfere, and intervene in the world's largest democratic exercise? First and foremost, we must remember that this is not just about Facebook. Facebook also owns WhatsApp. FB and WhatsApp control information, news, and communication for millions of Indians. And BJP controls FB and WhatsApp in India,” said Chakravorty.