Facebook potentially going to destabilise the democracy: Congress
Aug 17, 2020
New Delhi [India], Aug 17 : What is happening on Facebook is potentially going to destabilise the democracy if it already has not, according to Supriya Shrinate, Congress National Spokesperson on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Shrinate said, "Since India is one of the most thriving democracies in the world, individuals, organisations, and platforms including Facebook need to be held accountable and answerable for what they do. Questions will be raised and they must answer."
The "objectionable content" continues to exist on the platform, as per Shrinate, despite complaints against them.
"There is objectionable content, there is hate speech, all kind of rumours and conspiracy theories that exist on the platform. The platform does not take it down on its own and it continues even after making complaints and now Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article and various others have made it clear why it has been done," she said.
She further said that Facebook is replete with hate posts and no action has been taken. Facebook's 'trust team' has also pointed it out several times but the ones in power at the social media platform, according to Shrinate, have decided to not take it down as it may hurt their "business interest" in India.
"The WSJ report doesn't just speak to anonymous sources but it has spoken to existing and past Facebook employees who have come on record to say how things are done," she said.
Shrinate further questioned Facebook as to why the social media platform does not take down "coordinated, inauthentic behaviour" in India as it does in other parts of the world.
"Around the world, Facebook takes down pages and content. It issue releases saying we have done this because this is coordinated, inauthentic behaviour. In India, we have never seen this. Why does Facebook not take similar action in India?" she asked.
Demanding a joint parliamentary committee investigation, she said that Facebook should take active measures in setting up an enquiry and find the "rot" in their system as far as India is concerned.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that Facebook and WhatsApp are controlled by BJP and RSS in India. Describing the matter as shocking, the Congress has demanded the formation of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to investigate it.
