Parliametary panel would like to hear from Facebook about the WSJ report on hate speech, says Tharoor

Last updated on February 15th, 2023 at 12:22 pm

Huge speculations began hours after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi spoke on the Wall Street Journal report on hate speech and alleged that Facebook Inc. overlooked the protocols to check the instigating posts linked to the BJP. The party leader and the head of the committee on Information Technology Mr. Shashi Tharoor declared that the House Panel would unquestionably wish to hear” from Facebook about the report. 

According to The Indian Express, sources said the board Secretariat will write to Facebook on Monday asking its clarification and are likely to summon the social media giant.

On Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also slammed BJP stating that it controls the social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and uses it to spread fake news so as to impact the electorate, as per the WSJ report stated. 

As the citing in Wall Street Journal‘s report, Facebook’s highest public policy manager in India, Ankhi Das, contradicted utilizing the hate speech rules to at least four people and groups connected with the BJP despite that, in reality, they were “hailed internally for inciting violence.” 

She included that punishing violations by BJP leaders “would harm Facebook’s future business prospects in the nation.” 

Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh also asserted that the WSJ report referred to both current and former representatives of FB as saying that Das’ mediation is a piece of a “more extensive part of bias” by the Facebook towards the ruling BJP party. 

Facebook and other online platforms have been criticized across many political lines in both India and the US for their purportedly one-sided content control rehearses. They have been summoned by the US Congress and also the House Panel in India. 

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On Sunday, the Congress party demanded a joint Parliamentary committee investigation into the claimed BJP-Facebook nexus. “We believe that the matter is so serious that it ought to be probed by the JPC,” Congress said in an announcement.