Facebook Whistle-Blower Accuses RSS Of Promoting Hate Speech Content: Report

The internal awareness of the company is under the question of how the content targeting a particular religion in India is being issued.

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New Delhi: Facebook Whistle-blower Frances Haugen alleged that Facebook accounts purportedly run by or associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are involved in promoting fear-mongering and dehumanising content.

As reported by Hindustan Times, Haugen has submitted internal documents along with the complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

“Rashtriya Swayamswvak Sangh Users, Groups, and Pages promote fear-mongering, anti-Muslim narratives targeted pro-Hindu populations with V&I (violence and inciting) intent...” the complaint filed with SEC was quoted by HT.

A document filed with the complaint, "Adversarial Harmful Networks – India Case Study" cites "political considerations", which ranks India at "Level 0" alongside the US and Brazil when it comes to what the company Considers “Top 3 Political Priorities”.

The internal awareness of the company is under the question of how the content targeting a particular religion in India is being issued. As per the internal assessment, only 0.2% of the total reported hate speech is taken out via automated checks.

Meanwhile, RSS has not responded to the allegations levelled against them by the Facebook whistleblower

Earlier, Frances Haugen had claimed that Facebook prematurely turned off safeguards designed to prevent misinformation after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in last year’s elections to make money.

Haugen had leaked thousands of pages of internal research to the Journal which provided as the foundation for a succession of stories packaged as the “Facebook Files”.