The Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, headed by Shashi Tharoor, was expected to meet today
New Delhi:
Representatives of Facebook are expected to appear before a parliamentary committee tomorrow amid a huge controversy over allegations by US Publication Wall Street Journal that the social media giant ignored hate speech posted by leaders of the BJP and right wing groups. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, was expected to meet today. But it was cancelled in view of former President Pranab Mukherjee’s death.
A notification on the meeting was sent by the Lok Sabha Secretariat earlier this month. Besides representatives of Facebook, the committee had also asked representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to remain present.
Following the report in Wall Street Journal, published last month, Mr Tharoor said the parliamentary panel would consider getting a testimony from Facebook executives.
The topic, he said, would be “Safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms”. But his tweet on the matter triggered vociferous protests from BJP members of the panel, who accused him of “flouting rules” and demanded his removal.
The political battle over the issue heated up today as Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, alleging thatemployees of the social media giant “are on record abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior cabinet ministers” .
The Congress hit back with a demand for an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. “If Modi Govt has an iota of credibility, why doesn’t it agree to a JPC probe into the shameless collusion between #Facebook India & BJP. Why are u running scared?” tweeted senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala.
“Finally, Cat’s out of bag ! Modi Govt comes to the rescue of prejudiced offenders of #Facebook India as the ugly nexus is exposed! Can the ilk of Ms. Anki Das hide behind Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad & his lame duck letters in their defense? This is “pot calling the cattle black”,” another tweet from him read
In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi also demanded an investigation.
“International media have fully exposed Facebook’s & WhatsApp’s brazen assault on India’s democracy & social harmony. No one, let alone a foreign company, can be allowed to interfere in our nation’s affairs. They must be investigated immediately & when found guilty, punished,” his tweet read.
Reports in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month claimed that Facebook deliberately did not apply hate speech rules on members of the ruling BJP and right-wing groups even after the issue was flagged internally by Mark Zuckerberg. Quoting unnamed Facebook insiders, the report claimed that a senior Facebook India policy executive, Ankhi Das, had refused to ban a BJP MLA from Telangana despite his divisive posts.
In a second report, WSJ alleged that Ankhi Das “made internal postings over several years” detailing her support for the ruling BJP and disparaging its main rival Congress.
