The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology will look into reports that Facebook did not pull down hateful content posted by BJP legislators on its platform as it looked to seek favours from the government.
“I will look into the issues raised & of course seek to hear from those named,” Shashi Tharoor, Kerala Member of Parliament from the Indian National Congress and chairman of the IT committee, said in microblogging platform Twitter.
@SaketGokhale Thanks. I am aware of the @WSJ article. I will look into the issues raised & of course seek to hear from those named.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) 1597500412000
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Facebook continued to host posts by BJP MLA T Raja Singh had violated Facebook community rules but the inaction is allegedly part of a broader favouritism by the company towards’ the ruling BJP. Facebook pulled down the posts after the publication of the story.
Facebook maintained that it prohibits hate speech and content and enforced the policies globally.
“We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation. While we know there is more to do, we’re making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy.” a Facebook spokesperson said in an email response.
Another Congress politician Jairam Ramesh called Facebook the “greatest carrier of lies, and is a lethal threat to social harmony & reasoned debate.” On Twitter, he added that the Parliament must institute an inquiry into Facebook’s practices.
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