Congress writes to Zuckerberg; wants Facebook India probed for alleged 'hate speech' bias

The Congress on Tuesday, August 18, has written a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding a probe into the conduct of Facebook India's leadership and their operations following the controversy over a western media report claiming that Facebook did not apply its 'hate speech rules' on BJP leaders.

'Congress repeatedly raised issue of bias'

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal in his letter to Mark Zuckerberg said that Congress repeatedly raised the issue of bias with many Facebook executives. The letter further suggested to set up a high-level inquiry into Facebook India leadership team and submit a report to Facebook Inc. within a reasonable period of time. Congress has also alleged that the western media article has suggested that Facebook India's leadership has provided the BJP with favourable treatment on election-related issues.

"Set up a high-level inquiry by facebook headquarters into the Facebook India leadership team and their operations and submitt a report to the board of facebook Inc. within a reasonable period of time such as one/two months. This report should also be made public", the letter stated.

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'Publish all hate speech post'

The Congress leader also demanded to publish and make transparent all instances of hate speech posts since 2014 that were allowed on the platform. "The article mentions of at least three other politicians that were wilfully permitted by Facebook India. On a closer perusal, you will find thousands of such insidious posts", he said in the letter.

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Claims made in report

The American newspaper in its report dated August 14 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 further claims that in spite 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. 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 BJP has rubbished the Congress' attack, highlighting the Cambridge Analytica scandal from before the elections.

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