Congress seeks JPC probe into Facebook’s alleged role in influencing polls

The Congress on Monday accused Facebook of “influencing” India’s elections and “undermining” democracy and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into it.

“Facebook has reduced itself to a Fakebook,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said while raising the purported leaked internal reports of the social media giant on not initiating action against hate speech posts on its platform in India.

There was no response from Facebook India to the allegations.

The Congress leader also alleged that Facebook was acting as an ally of the ruling BJP and pushing its agenda.

Khera referred to research documents by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who has worked at Facebook, and alleged that it took no decisive action against the perpetrators of such hate posts in Hindi and Bengali.

He alleged that Facebook’s internal reports have identified fake accounts with over a million impressions, yet it did nothing about it.

“We demand a JPC probe to look into the role of Facebook in influencing our elections,” Khera told reporters.

He alleged that Facebook was trying to “‘compromise and undermine our democracy in trying to shape through fake posts the opinions of people”‘.

He alleged that BJP workers and those of its affiliates have infiltrated into the structure and functioning of Facebook.

“What right does Facebook have to push a particular ideology through fake posts, pictures and a narrative. It is shocking how only 0.2 per cent of hate speech is removed by Facebook, which despite making the most money from India, does not have the mechanism to filter posts in Hindi or Bengali,” he said.

Khera said just nine percent of users in India are in English and yet they do not have systems to filter the posts of regional languages.

Alleging that the role of Facebook during Delhi riots and West Bengal elections has been under suspicion, he said “The role of Facebook can no longer be dismissed as an error of omission as they are knowingly furthering the agenda of the ruling party and its ideology which is hate-filled, bigotry and dividing society.”

“Why should we not accuse Facebook of interfering in our elections by influencing the voting behaviour of its consumers. This is serious election fraud and this is serious interference in our elections by a foreign company,” he alleged.

“Why is Facebook quiet on these accusations which have come from within it. Why is the government silent on this, just because it suits their agenda and Facebook has become a tool in the hands of the BJP and its affiliates,” he asked.

Khera alleged that in the wake of an expose by its own former employee, there are many questions that Facebook and the government need to answer.

“Despite knowing all of this, why hasn’t Facebook designated RSS and Bajrang Dal as ‘dangerous organisations’ based on its own internal reports?

“While the Government of India had been extremely proactive against Twitter citing Social Media safety compliance, why are they not uttering a word now,” he asked.

He also alleged that internal reports and recommendations of Facebook’s security team went against the recommendations of Facebook’s safety team, insofar as they prioritised commercial interests over the safety of Indian citizens, and yet no action has been taken by the Government.

“Doesn’t this clearly implicate the presence of a ‘quid pro quo’,” he asked.

Internal documents at Facebook show “a struggle with misinformation, hate speech and celebrations of violence” in India, the company’s biggest market, with researchers at the social media giant pointing out that there are groups and pages “replete with inflammatory and misleading anti-Muslim content” on its platform, US media reports have said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor