FB BACKS ANKHI
Social media giant responds to Congress’s charge of bias, says its policies are non-partisan and reject hate
Amid a raging controversy over Facebook's alleged political bias and interference in India's democratic process, the social media giant has told the Congress that it is non-partisan, denounces hate and bigotry in all forms and strives to ensure that its platforms remain a space where people can express themselves freely.
Responding to concerns raised by the opposition Congress, particularly against the company’s India policy head Ankhi Das, Facebook's Public Policy, Trust and Safety Director Neil Potts has said that it has taken the party's allegation of bias very seriously and will ensure that it remains non-partisan and is committed to maintaining highest levels of integrity.
The Congress had accused Facebook of interfering in India's democratic process and social harmony and being soft on members of the ruling BJP while applying its hate-speech rules. It had written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg after reports by the Wall Street Journal and the Time magazine about the conduct of Facebook and WhatsApp India's leadership team flagged bias and proximity with the ruling BJP.
"We take seriously the concerns and recommendations you raised on behalf of the Indian National Congress... First and foremost, we want to take this opportunity to state that we are non-partisan and strive to ensure that our platforms remain a space where people can express themselves freely. We take allegations of bias seriously and want to make clear that we denounce hate and bigotry in all forms," Potts said in the letter of September 1.
In his letter to AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, who had written to Zuckerberg twice, Potts said, "On the question of hateful content by public figures, we want to assure you that our Community Standards prohibit attacks against people based on their protected characteristics, including religion, caste, ethnicity, and national origin. In line with our hate speech policy, we have removed and will continue to remove hateful content by public figures in India on our platforms." Facebook is at the centre of a raging political debate in the country with both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress accusing it of colluding and influencing opinion.
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written to Zuckerberg accusing the social media giant's employees of supporting people from a political predisposition that lost successive elections, and "abusing" Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology had also called Facebook's India head Ajit Mohan appeared before the panel on Wednesday.
The Congress's Data Analytics department head Praveen Chakravarty said Facebook has responded to the party’s concerns.
"The Congress party will await further concrete action from the global leadership of Facebook and demonstration of specific corrective measures being undertaken in Facebook & WhatsApp India. It must be reiterated that the media revelations on this issue were based on solid documentary evidence of internal communication and are hence incontrovertible," he said.