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Congress MP writes to Facebook India head over company’s partisan policies
This comes weeks after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told US lawmakers that social media urgently needs to be regulated
Congress Member of Parliament Gaurav Gogoi has written a letter to Facebook India head Ajit Mohan expressing his “vehement disdain and alarm” over the company’s partisan policies towards the removal of hate speech and inauthentic accounts.
The letter comes weeks after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told US lawmakers that social media fuels division, harms children, and urgently needs to be regulated. Haugen testified after leaking internal research documents to authorities and The Wall Street Journal. The documents reference to research and findings of Facebook’s researchers. Among those, some related to India, referencing what they said were fear-mongering and dehumanising content promoted by Facebook accounts purportedly believed to be either run by or associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Gogoi referred to “the recent revelations made by former employees of Facebook” regarding internal policies and action taken relating to the moderation of content. “Considering the pivotal role Facebook plays today in disseminating information and shaping public opinion, such allegations if true are likely to have an adverse public impact,” said the letter, a copy of which HT has seen.
Another former Facebook employee Sophie Zhang earlier highlighted the company’s partisan policy in removing inauthentic accounts ahead of the 2020 Delhi elections. She has also expressed willingness to testify before the Indian Parliament.
Gogoi, who is also a member of the joint parliamentary committee set up in 2019 to look into the Personal Data Protection Bill that is expected to have implications for social media companies, said Facebook needs to make a “conscious effort to protect its users”.
“It is particularly noteworthy that Ms Haugen worked on the company’s election interference team and expressed her displeasure towards the company’s lack of openness regarding the potential harm it was causing in that sphere, in addition to others. This exposes that in events where there is a conflict of interest between the of young individuals along with the failure of the company to address these flaws good of the people and the profitable/favourable outcomes for the company, Facebook has been choosing the latter.” He added they are cognizant that Facebook’s business model does involve the collection of data of its users and its subsequent processing.
He asked what action will the company take to rectify the “mistakes”. “Despite Facebook situating itself as a pioneer for transparency and reiterating its mission to tackle misinformation and hate, it is disappointing to witness the company suppress information and key aspects of internal research from the public and its users based on convenience.”
There was no immediate response from Mohan or Facebook.
