Union Minister lashes out at Congress over Facebook row; asks Rahul Gandhi to 'introspect'

Amid war-of-words between BJP and Congress over Rahul Gandhi's line of questioning on Facebook controversy and PM CARES, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that former Congress chief's party should be the last to 'sermonise on democratic values & norms'. Taking to Twitter, Puri added that Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders should look at their party's history before speaking on democratic values as it has been 'a death chamber of dissent, right to expression and internal democracy.'

Calling Congress a 'headless party'  which is currently in midst of a 'civil war', Hardeep Singh Puri said that anyone who dissents is shown the door. He was referring to recent Rajasthan controversy wherein Sachin Pilot was removed from the post after he revolved and the case of suspended Congress member Sanjay Jha. Furthermore, the Civil Aviation Minister called Rahul Gandhi 'now on now off' leader whose party was not able to get 100 seats in the last two Lok Sabha polls.  has not been able to muster 100 seats in the last two general elections. Puri added that Rahul's own party is a death chamber of dissent, right to expression, hence it is important for him to 'introspect & perhaps change his set of advisors.'

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Rahul Gandhi lashes out at BJP

Earlier on Monday, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi alleged that 'BJP & RSS controlled Facebook' while opining on a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on hate-speech on Facebook. He claimed that the 'American media had finally come out with the truth about Facebook'. Gandhi, who has been continually critical of the Modi government alleged that the BJP spread fake news and hatred through Facebook to influence the electorate. Facebook has currently invested a whopping $5.7 billion in the Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio platforms, raking a 9.9% stake in the company.

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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.

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