BJP-RSS control Facebook in India: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after a report surfaced that Facebook did not act on hate content.

The former Congress president took to Twitter as he posted a video and said, "Further confirmation that BJP-RSS control Facebook in India."

As per the report in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook discussed banning Bajrang Dal and termed it a dangerous organisation but did not act considering the safety of the employees.

This is not the first time that Facebook is in a controversy. Earlier in August this year, Wall Street Journal reported that the social media platform's policies were allegedly biased and favoured the ruling BJP due to business interests.

In the report it had said that the head of Facebook's Public Policy in India, Ankhi Das, had lobbied in favour of the ruling party and one of its leaders in spite of posting of hate comments on the platform.

Facebook had denied the allegations but it went on to ban the politician, while Ankhi Das quit the company in October this year.

The Congress at that time had said that the matter will not be resolved by just changing one individual. "Facebook must demonstrate its neutrality through a thorough revamp of its institutional processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs), so as to ensure foolproof checks and balances that cannot be tinkered by an individual's whims and political leanings," Congress General Secretary (organisation), K.C. Venugopal had said.

"It must also outline the steps taken to curb false, polarising and hate news/content spread rampantly on its platform, threatening India's social harmony," he added.

Wall Street Journal had on August 14 reported substantively on the blatant biases of Facebook India's team headed by Ankhi Das, and the Congress had raised the issue.

It had reported that Das and her political partisanship towards the ruling party and its leaders, by way of wilful propagation, was spreading fake and hate news.

Subsequently, the Congress had written two letters to the CEO of Facebook Inc, Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to look into the matter seriously. Facebook had responded to the letters reiterating its neutrality and promising due action. (IANS)

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