NEW DELHI: Ankhi das, he Facebook senior executive which was recently embroiled in a fierce controversy over allegations of political prejudice at the leadership of Facebook and WhatsApp in India, left the American social media giant.
Das, who had joined Facebook in 2011 when it began to gain on a global scale and was also expanding in India, is leaving the company with immediate effect. The departure, which is presented as a routine departure, comes after she faced accusations of meddling in Facebook’s content moderation policy to favor the ruling dispensation.
Das had been in charge of Facebook’s public policy and government initiative for the India, South and Central Asia regions, and was often the face of the company in interactions with government and regulators.
“Ankhi has decided to leave her role at Facebook to pursue her interest in public service. Ankhi was one of our first employees in India and has played a key role in the growth of the company and its services over the past 9 years.” Ajit Mohan, MD of Facebook India, said in a statement.
Mohan said Das had been a part of his leadership team for the past two years, a role in which he credited himself with making tremendous contributions. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best for the future.”
Das, who had filed a police report in August after receiving “violent threats” on his life, said he “decided to resign” to “pursue my personal interest in public service.”
“I’ve learned so much from the incredibly smart and talented people at the company, particularly the people on the policy team … Thank you Mark (Zuckerberg) for creating something beautiful for the world. I hope I served you and the company well. He said.
Facebook has faced a number of controversies in India, from failing to monitor fake news (on WhatsApp) to which a series of lynchings was attributed; data breach of the Cambridge Analytica provider (when a CBI inquiry is made); refusal to share the origins of hate messages on WhatsApp (about its encryption rules); and recent accusations of bias and ignorance Hate speech.
Controversies around Das first erupted around 2016 when regulator Trai opposed Facebook’s controversial “Free Basics” platform on the grounds that it may be against the principles of net neutrality. Das had been instrumental in boosting the Free Basics platform in discussions with Trai and the government, and this had also seen the social media giant launch a public campaign in support of its program. However, he had to abandon the measure after receiving a cold response from the government.
A few months ago, Das was accused of opposing the application of Facebook’s hate speech rules against BJP and other right-wing leaders. In some quarters, she was also accused of posting messages in support of BJP for several years on a Facebook group of company employees.
The issue was also highlighted by the opposition, and Congress demanded a joint investigation by the parliamentary commission.
The matter came to light after a report in the Wall Street Journal. The head of Facebook in India, Mohan, issued a statement saying that the company denounced hatred and intolerance in any form.
Even BJP criticized Facebook, with the minister of telecommunications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad writing to the founder of FB Mark Zuckerberg in September, accusing company employees of “officially abusing” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior cabinet ministers and engaging in “collusion … to smear the democratic process of our great democracy.”
According to credible media reports, it appears that the Facebook India team, from the India Managing Director to other senior officials, is dominated by people belonging to a particular political belief. People of this political predisposition have been overwhelmingly and fair elections. Having lost all democratic legitimacy, they are trying to discredit India’s democratic process by dominating the decision-making apparatus of major social media platforms. Facebook is the latest tool in their arsenal to stoke divisions. internal and social unrest, “said Prasad. wrote.
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