Duran leads Al Nassr past Yokohama Marinos into AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Al Ahli cruise past Buriram into AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Arabia offers condolences to Iran following deadly Bandar Abbas port explosion    Saudi Arabia welcomes Palestinian leadership reforms, appointment of Hussein Al-Sheikh    Ministry of Hajj issued over 150,000 Nusuk cards for the Hajj of 2025    Saudi Arabia deports 12,866 illegal residents in a week    Pope Francis laid to rest at historic funeral in Rome    Massive explosion at Iran's Shahid Rajaee Port injures over 500 people    SFDA clears first 44-ton medical shipment for Hajj pilgrims    Over 13 million worshipers pray at Rawdah Sharif in a year    Saudi orchestra to perform at Sydney Opera House in May    Al Hilal thrash Gwangju to reach AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Nammos Amala Resort to open soon with Saudi-Greek designs    Saudi Arabia completes 674 Vision 2030 initiatives, achieves 93% of KPIs as ninth-year milestone marked    GACA chief chairs 16th meeting of the Steering Committee on aviation's strategy    Alkhorayef praises advancements in Al-Kharj food industries sector    Saudi Theater Commission launches its Work and Learn Project in UK    The season has begun — and one comment shook us all    Average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rises to78.8 years    Famed Philippine film star Nora Aunor dies at 71    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Row over FB 'leniency' to BJP members' communal posts
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 16 - 08 - 2020

A report suggesting Facebook was going easy on hate speeches by members of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the subject of a political controversy, with the Congress saying it had met and flagged similar concerns to a senior executive of the social media company who has been named in the story.
In an article published late on Friday, the Wall Street Journal cited interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that the company's senior India policy executive Ankhi Das intervened in internal content review processes to stop a ban on BJP's Telangana MLA T. Raja Singh, who made communally charged posts targeting the Muslim community.
Das, the report added, "told staff members that punishing violations by politicians from Mr. Modi's party would damage the company's business prospects in the country". Facebook denied the allegation and said it was still reviewing whether it had to act against Singh. Das did not respond to requests for a comment.
"We had met Ankhi Das over the issue and raised our concerns regarding these matters," said a senior member of Congress's media team, who asked not to be named.
"This expose on Facebook comes as a shock because one expects companies like Facebook to be professionally run and managed. New facts are emerging exposing the close ties of important officials of Facebook India with the BJP. Democracy needs to be insulated from being sabotaged by such unholy collusion," said Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera.
Facebook said its policies on such matters are unbiased. "We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone's political position or party affiliation. While we know there is more to do, we're making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy," a Facebook spokesperson said on queries relating to the claims in the WSJ story.
A BJP spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. A party functionary, who asked not to be named, said the BJP does not subscribe to the views of Singh and has distanced itself from comments that call for violence or are not in line with the party's stance.
India is one of Facebook's fastest growing markets and the company is estimated to have close to 350 million users by June this year. Instagram and WhatsApp, both owned by the California-based company, have hundreds of millions more users from India.
Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been under increasing pressure because there are concerns that they are not doing enough to crack down on fake news and hate speech. The controversy has particularly played out in the United States, where Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that the company cannot be "an arbiter of truth" in response to criticism over the type of political content, which at one point also triggered a staff walk-out.
Shortly after the WSJ report was released, Ajit Mohan, the head of Facebook India, wrote an internal memo to the company's India operations staff defending Das. "This article does not reflect the person I know or the extraordinarily complex issues we face everyday that benefits from Ankhi and the Public Policy team's expertise," he said in the note. — Agencies


Clic here to read the story from its source.