Facebook India’s top policy official, Ankhi Das, resigned from the Mark Zuckerberg-led company, months after being accused of bias towards the ruling faction. And now, Facebook has chosen WhatsApp’s director of public policy, Shivnath Thukral, to take over from Das.
The change comes after weeks of controversy regarding Facebook’s alleged negligence in enforcing hate speech laws.
Although an official confirmation has yet to come, reports suggest that Thukral will replace his former boss. His appointment will be in line with the trend of Facebook and other social media platforms to work more closely with political analysts, researchers and legislators to represent their platforms and work more in conjunction with the policies of nations.
Who is Shivnath Thukral?
Shivnath Thukral is not a newcomer to Facebook. In fact, he worked for two years as Facebook’s director of public policy for India and South Asia until March 2020 and reported directly to Ankhi Das, the head of public policy for India, South and Central Asia. A former journalist, his main job was to act as a lobbyist under Das to ensure the company’s smooth dealings with the government. Having worked as a journalist for fourteen years with NDTV, Thukral is not just a corporate stunt. He served as Managing Director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace foreign policy think tank in India. He also held a leadership position at Essar Group previously. He was hired by Facebook in July 2017 and in 2020 he was appointed Director of Public Policy for WhatsApp owned by Facebook.
Not oblivious to controversy?
While Thukral has several professional accolades, he has also been named by TIME magazine as one of Ankhi Das’s “top lieutenants.” In August, when TIME first reported on the alleged abuse of power within Facebook India, the report mentioned that Das, who was one of the people in charge of reviewing politicians’ posts in case of violations, had left a meeting. when an activist raised objections to an incendiary post. The publication in question was from Assam’s BJP MLA, Shiladitya Dey, and it had called “Bangladesh Muslims” rapists. Despite getting their attention, Facebook allowed the post to remain on the platform for more than a year until a Wall Street Journal investigation sparked outrage and the subsequent removal of several hateful posts by powerful people.
According to the Time magazine report, Thukral worked for the BJP digital campaign in 2013-14, in the lead up to the 2014 elections.
Why did Ankhi Das leave Facebook India?
It all started when The Wall Street Journal published a report in August 2020 about the alleged abuse of power by Facebook’s India team, which was allegedly in favor of the ruling party leaders. According to the report, BJP’s Telangana MP T Raja Singh had posted inflammatory posts and public appearances on Facebook calling out Muslim traitors and threatening to destroy mosques. The Assam legislator’s anti-Mulsim post was also cited. Although the posts were against Facebook guidelines, the report said that certain Facebook employees refused to remove the posts to protect their relationship with the ruling party. Following a political storm and attack by politicians, Das resigned from his post.
In recent years, Facebook and WhatsApp have emerged as prolific platforms to drive incitement, misinformation, and hateful content among the masses. While incendiary speeches by political leaders and their supporters tend to go viral on Facebook, WhatsApp is often used to spread misinformation and rumors, be it in the form of cow vigilantism, rumors against foreigners, or simply through misinformation.
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