Congress hints at Parliamentary probe into Facebook's 'hate-speech policy' for BJP

Condemning Facebook's alleged selective practice of applying 'anti-hate speech' rules, Congress on Sunday, has demanded a Parliamentary probe into the issue, after the Wall Street Journal released a report on it. Shashi Tharoor- who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, has hinted that the social media giant may be pulled up. Taking to Twitter, Rajya Sabha MP Manish Tewari and Derek O'Brien too highlighted the same - alleging interference in Indian electoral processes. 

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India reports 63,000 new cases; active cases now at 6.7 lakhs

Congress hints at parliamentary probe into Facebook over WSJ expose

Union IT min slams Rahul Gandhi over FB-BJP remark; cites 'Cong-Cambridge Analytica' link

RSP to Gandhi: 'Gall to question us?'

In retaliation to Congress' allegations, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, pointed out to Congress' alleged involvement with Cambridge Analytica to 'weaponise data'. Terming Gandhi a 'loser who could not influence people in his own party', Prasad questioned Gandhi's gall to question BJP. Rahul Gandhi had alleged that 'BJP & RSS controlled Facebook' while opining on a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on hate-speech on Facebook. Facebook has currently invested a whopping $5.7 billion in the Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio platforms, raking a 9.9% stake in the company.

MS Dhoni retires: As 2011-World Cup captain hangs his gloves, a look at his CSK journey

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. 

Rahul Gandhi on Facebook's 'hate-speech policy' for BJP: 'Influenced electorate with it'

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.