Will the JPC probe into Facebook dispute? Former RSS ideologue Govindacharya also advocated with Congress-Left

Posted on 18th Aug 2020 by rohit kumar

Facebook has come under target due to a Wall Street Journal news. Govindacharya, former thinker of Congress, Marxist Communist Party (CPI) as well as RSS, demanded a probe from the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the matter. It has been alleged that Facebook does not enforce the rules of hate speech on some BJP leaders. However, the social media giant insisted that its policies are implemented globally without any political engagement. Congress said that 'not taking action' against hateful content by Facebook is 'destabilizing' democracy in India and that it is implementing various rules in different countries, 'absolutely unacceptable'.

 

Former BJP general secretary and RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya told the Hindustan Times that in the matter of data access and right to privacy, political parties need to find solutions by bypassing differences. He said, "The demand for JPC inquiry being done by Congress should be done to remove the fundamental and systemic problems". He said, "Instead of blaming each other, the political party's core questions of accountability It would be better if we focus on making necessary laws. The parties speak one language when they are in power and another when they are in opposition. ”Govindacharya has been campaigning for regulation on social media platforms and has also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court.

 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, chairman of Parliament's standing committee on information technology, said that the committee would like to know Facebook's side of the report. After that, a committee of Delhi Legislative Assembly also said that it will summon Facebook officials, including Das, for complaints of deliberate inaction to curb hateful material in India.

 

In its response, Facebook said that speeches and content that spread hatred or malice are banned on the company's social media platform, which is prone to violence. The company said that its policies are implemented globally and it does not see which political party it is related to. Facebook, which considers India to be its main market, has also admitted that it curbs all hate content, but much more needs to be done in this direction. Amidst the controversy, Facebook's senior executive in India, Aankhi Das, complained with the Delhi Police that after this news he was receiving "death threats" and was deliberately maligned.

 

The report published on Friday by the US newspaper 'Wall Street Journal' cited interviews with anonymous sources on Facebook. It claimed that a senior Indian police officer had intervened in an internal letter to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana for allegedly posting posts containing communal allegations.

 

A Facebook spokesperson said, "We prohibit speeches and content that promotes violence." We implement these policies globally. It does not take into account any political party or ideology. "The officer said," We know that much more needs to be done, we are making progress towards enforcement. We regularly audit our procedures to prevent any bias. ''

 

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has also asked the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the matter, while agreeing with the Congress demand. "The CPI (M) Politburo strongly condemns the role of Facebook, especially in the context of India, as revealed by the Wall Street Journal," the Left party said in a statement. Facebook is not following its own set of policies regarding communal hate content. ''

 

Congress spokesperson Supriya Srinet told reporters via video link that India is the most thriving democracy in the world and any organization weakening its democratic roots will be asked questions. His accountability will remain. "I will say with full responsibility that what Facebook is doing is weakening India's roots," he alleged. Often no action is taken and worse is that despite being brought to notice, it does not remove malicious content from its platform. ''

 

Sprint claimed that Facebook has different rules for different countries which are "not acceptable". He alleged that Facebook has different rules for different countries according to their convenience. "Despite the external complaints in India and the red flag being flagged by his trust and security team, the malicious content was intentionally allowed to continue," Srinet alleged.

 

He said that the social media company did not take concrete steps towards curbing rumors and malicious content in India. Shrines claimed, "Facebook pages are removed for objectionable posts in other countries, but this was not done in India." We also have hate talk, talk against women, community-specific, caste specific. But you (Facebook) raise your hands. ''

 

He also targeted the government, saying that instead of reacting to the news in the Wall Street Journal, it was targeting the Congress party. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday targeted the BJP and the government over the same matter. Reversing this, Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tried to remind the opposition party of the Cambridge Analytica issue.

 

Shriner said that rumors, misinformation, and hate speech outside of Facebook which are released on WhatsApp without any restrictions are more harmful. Following this comment by Tharoor, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey tweeted that the committee should not be made a platform by the members to "satisfy the importance of their respective parties".

 

Mahua Moitra and Tharoor, Trinamool Congress MPs and members of the Information Technology Committee, condemned Dubey's remarks. Meanwhile, a Delhi Assembly committee on peace and harmony said on Monday that it would summon its officials against the social media platform Facebook for "deliberately and willfully not taking action against malicious content" in India. "The relevant officials of Facebook and the most important Aankhi Das will be summoned for the appearance in time to ensure their presence in the relevant proceedings of the committee and the committee will begin its proceedings this week," the official statement said. Will call you.