Facebook India Vice President and Managing Director Ajit Mohan declined to appear before a Delhi Assembly committee that is investigating the social media giant’s alleged failure to crack down on hate speech, saying the issue falls within the exclusive domain of the Union of India.
The assembly panel on peace and harmony is investigating complaints about the “role or complicity of Facebook officials in the Delhi riots” in February.
On Tuesday, the committee, led by the Aam Aadmi MLA Raghav Chadha Party, asked Facebook to ensure that company executives appear before the panel at its next meeting, warning that a refusal will lead to “privilege violation proceedings. “against officials. Appearing before the committee is contempt of the Delhi Legislature. This shows that Facebook has something to hide, “said Chadha.
In a letter to the committee, Facebook said Parliament is already investigating the issue and asked the Delhi panel to withdraw its subpoena.
“As the issues raised by the notice involve an issue within the exclusive domain of the Union of India, and the issues are being actively considered by Parliament, we respectfully oppose the notice and ask you to withdraw it,” said the Facebook’s director of trust and safety, Vikram Langeh said in the letter to Chadha.
Chadha said Facebook has blatantly refused to participate, instead taking the opportunity to dispel the allegations and restore people’s faith and trust.
“The refusal to attend is in contempt of the powers granted to the assembly by the Constitution. If a matter is being investigated in Parliament, that does not prevent the Delhi assembly from investigating the matter. The state legislature functions independently of Parliament. In this case, the problem is also different. The parliament committee is looking into “safeguarding the rights of citizens and preventing misuse of online / social media platforms, including a special emphasis on women’s safety in the digital space.” The parliament committee is not investigating any issues related to the Delhi riots and the role of Facebook, “Chadha said.
The social media platform has faced criticism over accusations that it favors the government led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata party in India, to further its own business goals in Asia’s third-largest economy. According to a report by The Wall Street JournalAnkhi Das, director of public policy at Facebook India, had opposed the removal of content from the ruling party leaders, although the posts qualified as hate speech.
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