Congress cries foul over blocking of Meira Kumar's Facebook page, draws 'Bihar polls' link

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, Congress once again accused Facebook of favouring the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. On Thursday, senior Congress leader Meira Kumar revealed that her Facebook page was blocked. Terming this as an "assault on democracy", the former Lok Sabha Speaker alleged that this move was linked to the upcoming Bihar election. Writing on Twitter, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala seconded this charge.

He claimed that the leadership of Facebook India was subservient to the agenda of the NDA government. According to him, such petty tactics were being used to stifle the voice of the opposition leaders. It is pertinent to note that the Congress party had written two letters to the Facebook CEO seeking action against its India team and an independent probe into its functioning. Referring to international media articles, Congress accused Facebook India's leadership of being complicit in propagating hate speech. 

Facebook seeks to assuage Congress

Addressing a letter to Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal in September, Facebook Public Policy Director Neil Potts gave an assurance to the Congress party that the social media platform is "non-partisan". Potts 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. Asserting that his company's Community Standards prohibits attacks against people based on religion, caste, ethnicity, and national origin, he 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. 

Read: 'Ugly Nexus Exposed': Congress Reiterates 'BJP-Facebook Link' Claim, Demands JPC Probe

Counter-allegation by government

On the other hand, Union Law & Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned the interference in the Indian political process. He alleged 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. Additionally, the Union IT Minister claimed that there is an internal power struggle within Zuckerberg's company to achieve ideological hegemony. 

Read: No One Can Be Allowed To Interfere In Our Nation's Affairs: Rahul On Allegations Against Facebook