Shashi Tharoor-Led Parliamentary Panel To Discuss Facebook Hate Speech Row Today: Top Developments

Besides representatives of Facebook, the Parliamentary panel has also asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to remain present.

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New Delhi: Amid the heated exchange of arguments between Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress over alleged 'misuse' of social media platforms by the ruling party, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology led by Congress's Shashi Tharoor is set to hear today the Facebook representatives over allegations that the social networking giant allowed hate content posted by leaders of the right-wing. A summon in this regard was sent by Lok Sabha Secretariat to the Facebook last month to answer questions raised by the Wall Street Journal article. The agenda of the committee's meeting states that to "hear the views of the representatives of Facebook on the subject 'Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space" Besides representatives of Facebook, the Parliamentary panel has also asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to remain present. A Look Back At Developments So Far In 'Hate Speech' Controversy  WSJ Exposes BJP-Facebook Nexus: A US based newspaper publication Wall Street Journal last month published a report titled "Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics: Company executive opposed move to ban controversial politician", alleging that Facebook favoured BJP to influence the electorate by deliberately ignoring 'hate -speech' content from right-wing leaders. The report mentioned about Telangana MP T Raja Singh's Communal post against Rohingya Muslims and also cited interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on the BJP MLA. Opposition Alleges 'Attack On India's Democracy', Demands Probe Reacting on the Facebook-BJP nexus, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and RSS of controlling social media sites Facebook and WhatsApp in India. Alleging that BJP and its parent organisation RSS have attacked democracy in the country, the grand old party demanded a strict probe into alleged violations by the social media platforms for allegedly assaulting India's democracy and social harmony. BJP Complaints 'Facebook Employees Deleting Pages' Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg raising several concerns including senior officials of the India unit of the platform abusing the Prime Minister and also deleting several pages. In his long letter, the senior minister pointed out that in the run up to 2019 General Elections in India, there was a concerted effort by Facebook India management to not just delete pages or substantially reduce their reach but also offer no recourse or right of appeal to affected people who are supportive of the right-of-centre ideology. Facebook Defends Saying "Always Been Open, Transparent & Non-Partisan" Amid the ongoing political row, the India unit of the social media platform refuted the allegations. Facebook India vice-president and managing director Ajit Mohan in a statement said that Facebook is and has always been an open, transparent and non-partisan platform where people can express themselves freely. He added that the social networking firm has an impartial approach to dealing with content and is strongly governed by its Community Standards.