India ruling party denies preferential treatment by Facebook
Source: Associated Press
India ruling party denies preferential treatment by Facebook
By EMILY SCHMALL and SHEIKH SAALIQ
August 17, 2020
NEW DELHI (AP) Members of Indias governing party on Monday rejected allegations that Facebook had chosen to turn a blind eye to partisan hate speech on its platform to protect its growing business interests in India.
As usage has spread across India, Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp have become fierce battlegrounds for Indias political parties, but spokesmen for Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party denied a newspaper report that asserted Facebook officials chose not to take action against party members whose posts violated rules against hate speech.
The party members instead accused Facebook of censoring pro-India content.
Opposition Congress party lawmaker Shashi Tharoor said the information technology committee he heads in Parliament will take up the findings of the Aug. 14 report in The Wall Street Journal. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of controlling Facebook and demanded a joint probe by Parliaments two houses.
The Wall Street Journal report said Facebook Indias head of public policy, Anhki Das, opposed applying hate-speech rules to at least four individuals and groups linked with the BJP even though they were flagged internally for promoting or participating in violence.
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