Delhi Assembly panel initiates proceedings against Facebook

NEW DELHI:  The Delhi Legislative Assembly Committee on Peace and Harmony on Tuesday initiated proceedings against Facebook for its alleged inaction to tackle hateful content on its platform.

After taking the views expressed by experts in the domain into account, Delhi Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee’s Chairman Raghav Chadha said, “There is a basis to the allegation that there is an unholy nexus between the BJP and the Facebook.” 

Eminent journalist Pranjoy Guha Thakurta and digital rights activist Nikhil Pahwa presented their research before the committee. 

After the proceedings, the committee in a statement said, “An impartial investigation into the role of Facebook in the Delhi riots should be done by an investigative agency.” “Guha also alleged that Facebook as well as WhatsApp has a massive role in aggravating riot situation happening in the country including riots of Muzaffarnagar, Bengaluru and especially north- east Delhi,” added the statement from the committee.

Accordingly, the committee has received multiple complaints underscoring the alleged “instances of intentional and deliberate inaction on the part of social media platform namely Facebook to enforce its policies against Inflammatory and hateful contents”. “The committee believes that this is a direct assault on Indian democracy as this alleged nexus might compromise on free and fair elections in the country,” said Chadha.

To discern the veracity of complainants and allegations set out in the complaint, committee shall be sending summons for appearance to the concerned officials of Facebook and public policy director Ankhi Das. “It was unanimously decided by the committee upon the revelations and insights gathered by the witnesses that Facebook official’s must be called upon with a view to carry out a painstaking investigation into the allegations made by the complainants which was supported by the witnesses as well as the depositions of key witnesses summoned” added the Aam Aadmy Party MLA from Rajinder Nagar.