Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to raise "serious concerns" about the social network becoming a tool for societal disturbances in India, communicating after allegations that the platform favoured the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The information technology minister accused the US company of deleting Facebook pages supporting right of centre ideology in the run up to the 2019 elections and not offering right of appeal against such action. He said the Facebook India team--managing director and other senior officials--belong to a particular political belief. Prasad said the beliefs of these people "impinged" on the freedom of speech of millions of millions of people.
Prasad’s letter said Facebook employees "were on record" abusing the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers of India while still working in the company and managing important positions. "It is doubly problematic when the bias of individuals becomes an inherent bias of the platform."
“The spate of recent anonymous, source-based reports is nothing but an internal power struggle within your company for an ideological hegemony," said Prasad. "No other logic can explain how facts are being spun by the selective leaks from within your company to portray an alternate reality."
He accused Facebook of inaction when it used by "anarchic and radical elements" whose aimed to destroy social order by recruiting and assembling people for violence.
Prasad's letter comes after The Wall Street Journal reported last month mentioned that Facebook overlooked its hate speech policies in the cases of Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh and three other “Hindu nationalist individuals and groups” in order to safeguard the social media platform’s business prospects. The report said one of Facebook’s top public policy executives in India “opposed applying hate-speech rules” to individuals linked with the BJP even though they were flagged internally for promoting violence.
Prasad also objected to Facebook using third party fact-checkers, alleging the outsourcing had led to misinformation about Covid-19.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called for a probe into Facebook and its messaging platform Whatsapp for their "brazen assault" on the country's democracy and social harmony. "No one, let alone a foreign company, can be allowed to interfere in our nation's affairs. They must be investigated immediately & when found guilty, punished," he tweeted on Tuesday.
The parliamentary standing committee on Information Technology has summoned Facebook on September 2 to discuss the issue of alleged misuse of social media platforms in the wake of claims that the US firm did not apply hate speech rules to certain BJP politicians.