Parliamentary I-T committee to hear Facebook officials on Sep 2 on preventing its misuse

Taking action on the Facebook row, the Parliamentary Standing committee on Information Technology is set to meet on September 2 and listen to Facebook executives on prevention of misuse of social media platforms, as informed by Lok Sabha secretariat. The Committee has also summoned representatives of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology over the same issue, on September 2. Meanwhile, two BJP MPs - Rajyavardhan Rathore and Nishikant Dubey have written to Speaker Om Birla claiming that Shashai Tharoor has flouted parliamentary rules regarding the Facebook row by discussing the process with media instead of the committee members.

BJP MPs write to Lok Sabha Speaker on Facebook row; allege Shashi Tharoor flouted rules

Parliamentary standing committee on I-T to hear FB officials 

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Congress hints at parliamentary probe

Earlier on Sunday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor- who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, has hinted that the social media giant may be pulled up. Moreover, Congress has written to Facebook seeking a probe into officials after Facebook's selective practice of applying 'anti-hate speech' rules was reported in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Meanwhile, Facebook's Ankhi Das has filed a complaint against threats received to her and a Chhattisgarh journalist has filed an FIR against Das for promoting hate-speech. BJP, on the other hand, has denied any affiliation with Facebook, slamming the Congress' allegations.

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What does the WSJ report claim?

The American newspaper Wall Street Journal claimed that BJP's Telangana MLA T Raja Singh had often made communal and incendiary speeches that were posted on Facebook, clashing with the company's hate speech rules. The report claims that inspite of the posts allegedly violating Facebook's hate-speech rules and qualifying as dangerous, Facebook India's top public-policy executive Ankhi Das had claimed that punishing violations by BJP would 'damage the company's business prospects in India'. Apart from Singh, three other BJP leaders or Hindutva groups were allegedly flagged by Facebook for hate-speech.

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The report further points out that Facebook has faced issues to launch its telecommunications service - Free Basics in 2016 from the Modi government, as it violated net neutrality. The report further stated that while some of Singh's posts were removed by Facebook, the social media giant has demoted Singh's account to a non-verified, unofficial account without a blue tick. Citing preferential treatment by Facebook, WSJ points to the removal of thousands of Congress-linked Pakistan military posts and several BJP-linked fake news pages prior to the Lok Sabha elections. While Facebook publically disclosed the deletion of the Congress-linked accounts, it allegedly did not disclose the removal of the BJP-linked posts.