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Facebook Must Be Questioned About The Allegations Of Bias

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-08-21 08:02:56

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

When a reputed newspaper like the Wall Street Journal quotes internal sources in the company to allege that Facebook in India is pandering to the ruling party by allowing hate posts of members of the party to remain on the platform, the allegations need verification. Hence, the parliamentary standing committee on IT, under the chairmanship of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, has done the right thing to summon Facebook executives on September 2 to explain the matter. It has also asked officials of the IT ministry to attend the meeting. Piqued by this, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has written to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to remove Tharoor as the chairman of the committee.

The allegations against Facebook are of serious nature. There are millions of Facebook users in India and if the company allows a particular party to use the platform to promote its ideology, ostensibly to protect its business interests in the country, it is doing the wrong thing. Facebook has an internal policy that disallows hate speeches and other material that might cause enmity between communities. But if it chooses to ignore its policies to favour one party, it cannot be tolerated in a democracy. The playing field must be level – all parties and individuals, without exception, must be allowed to do the same things on the platform and must be similarly penalized if they break the rules.

Facebook was alleged to have a role in the Cambridge Analytica affair during the US Presidential elections in 2016. Hence, the mischief that can be caused during elections in India if Facebook (which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram and together these three can grab millions of eyeballs) plays favourites cannot be discounted. The platform can be used to spread fake news and it will hurt the government and the BJP too. Hence, in the interest of democracy, the BJP should not oppose the committee’s move to question Facebook. Instead, it must ensure that the truth comes out and hate speeches and fake news are not allowed on the platform.

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