Congress cries foul over blocking of Meira Kumar's Facebook page, draws 'Bihar polls' link

Ahe of Bihar Assembly polls, Congress once again accused Facebook of favouring Narendra Modi-led government at Centre. On Thursday, senior Congress leer Meira Kumar revealed that her Facebook p was blocked. Terming this as an "assault on democracy", former Lok Sabha Speaker alleged that this move was linked to upcoming Bihar election. Writing on Twitter, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala seconded this charge.

He claimed that leership of Facebook India was subservient to nda of NDA government. According to him, such petty tactics were being used to stifle  voice of opposition leers. It is pertinent to te that Congress party h written two letters to Facebook CEO seeking action against its India team and an independent probe into its functioning. Referring to international media articles, Congress accused Facebook India's leership of being complicit in propagating hate speech. 

Facebook seeks to assu Congress

dressing a letter to Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal in September, Facebook Public Policy Director Neil Potts gave an assurance to Congress party that social media platform is "n-partisan". Potts recalled that he h recently shared his company's Community Standards and steps taken during COVID-19 to Venuopal as well as or Congress leers. Asserting that his company's Community Standards prohibits attacks against people based on religion, caste, ethnicity, and national origin, he stressed that Facebook will continue to remove hateful content by public figures in India. Moreover, he explained that decisions are t me by one person but are inclusive of different views from multiple teams. 

Re: 'Ugly Nexus Exposed': Congress Reiterates 'BJP-Facebook Link' Claim, Demands JPC Probe

Counter-allegation by government

On or hand, Union Law & Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Pras condemned  interference in Indian political process. He alleged that re was a concerted attempt by Facebook India manment to delete ps or substantially reduce reach of people supportive of right-of-centre ideology. Claiming that affected persons did get a right of appeal, he attributed this to dominant political belief of individuals working in Facebook India team. ditionally,  Union IT Minister claimed that re is an internal power struggle within Zuckerberg's company to achieve ideological hegemony. 

Re:  One Can Be Allowed To Interfere In Our Nation's Affairs: Rahul On Allegations Against Facebook