Facebook assuages Congress on 'partisanship' charge, assures 'free & safe expression'

On Thursday, Facebook Public Policy Director Neil Potts gave an assurance to the Congress party that the social media platform is "non-partisan". Potts was responding to Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal's letter dated August 18 wherein the latter alleged that Facebook India was favouring BJP. The Facebook Public Policy Director recalled that he had recently shared his company's Community Standards and the steps taken during COVID-19 to Venuopal as well as other Congress leaders.

Assuring that his company's Community Standards prohibits attacks against people based on religion, caste, ethnicity, and national origin, Potts stressed that Facebook will continue to remove hateful content by public figures in India. Moreover, he explained that decisions are not made by one person but are inclusive of different views from multiple teams. Thanking the Congress party for its recommendations, he reiterated Facebook's commitment to maintain the highest level of integrity and foster an environment of free and safe expression. 

Read: Facebook Bans BJP MLA Raja Singh For Hate Speech Violation Amid Bias Claim From Both Sides

It is pertinent to note that the Congress party has already written two letters to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeking action against its India team and an independent probe into its functioning. In his letter, Venugopal recommended that Facebook should make public all instances of hate speech allowed on the platform since 2014. Besides this, Congress has also demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into this issue.  

Read: What Is Bagets On Facebook Report? What Actions Did Facebook Take Against Child Abuse?

IT Minister complains to Facebook

In an interesting development on Tuesday, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote to Zuckerberg condemning its alleged interference in the Indian political process. He opined that there was a concerted attempt by the Facebook India management to delete pages or substantially reduce the reach of people supportive of the right-of-centre ideology. Claiming that the affected persons did get a right of appeal, he attributed this to the dominant political belief of individuals working in the Facebook India team.

Emphasising that Facebook should be visibly seen to be fair and neutral, he lamented that people having a certain political belief are trying to discredit India's democratic process by dominating the decision-making apparatus of social media platforms. Pointing out that Facebook India employees were abusing the PM and other Cabinet Ministers, Prasad contended that Facebook had emerged as the latest tool to stoke internal divisions and social disturbances. Furthermore, the Union IT Minister claimed that there is an internal power struggle within Zuckerberg's company to achieve ideological hegemony. 

Read: Last Resort Of Guilty Is To Hurl Baseless Charges At Left: CPI(M) On Prasad's Letter To Facebook CEO