According to a report, Ankhi Das “made internal posts” detailing his support for the BJP. (Proceedings)
New Delhi:
A diverse team “representing a varied political spectrum” that has “political experience” is part of its global policy-making process, Facebook said today in response to congressional allegations of its head of pro-BJP bias. politics of India, Ankhi Das. Policy enforcement on hate speech “is not done unilaterally by one person,” added the social media giant, which has come under the spotlight following reports by the Wall Street Journal that it overlooked the Hate speech posted by the leaders of the ruling BJP and voices from the right. .
In two letters to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Congress accused the social media giant of interfering with India’s democratic process and social harmony and of being soft on members of the ruling BJP by applying its rules of incitement to the hate.
Citing the WSJ article, Congress, in its August 18 letter, wrote: “Specifically, the article reads:” Ms. Das (from Facebook India) has informed the BJP with election-related issues. “This is a serious and damning indictment of Facebook India’s interference in India’s electoral democracy. “
Responding to KC Venugopal in Congress today, Neil Potts, Facebook’s Director of Public Policy, said they consult a “community of outside voices” and a “broad cross-section of internal teams.”
“Public Policy is a diverse team representing a diverse political spectrum, having worked in many administrations or has political experience and takes great pride in actively contributing to public service – this is the case not only in India but also globally. Together, we take a non-partisan approach to dealing with content and have designed systems to ensure that we are enforcing policies globally without regard to anyone’s previous political positions, party affiliations or beliefs, “the letter read, which, however , did not mention Ms. Das.
WSJ had reported that Ankhi Das had advised against the action, saying that punishing violations by BJP workers “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country.” He also reported that Ms. Das “made internal posts for several years” detailing her support for the BJP and disparaging Congress, sparking a lot of political controversy.
At yesterday’s meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, a parliamentarian also raised questions about Ankhi Das’s political affiliation with the BJP. It was suggested that it had business links with some central government ministries. Facebook India chief Ajit Mohan, who attended the meeting, faced questions from BJP members about her ties to Congress.
Facebook’s hiring system has also come under scrutiny, with sources saying the process appears to lack transparency and that most employees have political affiliations.
“We removed 22.5 million pieces of hate speech content from April to June 2020, compared to 1.6 million pieces of hate speech content removed in the last quarter of 2017,” Facebook said in its letter, adding that it publishes transparency reports on actions against harmful content.
Facebook also said it was nonpartisan, takes accusations of prejudice seriously and “wants to make it clear that we denounce hatred and intolerance in all its forms.”
Facebook, which has 33 million users in India and considers the county among its largest markets, said it was “grateful” for the recommendations and that it can further collaborate with the party on these issues.
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