On a day that saw Congress president Sonia Gandhi accuse the ruling dispensation of conniving with social media giants to ‘set political narratives in the country,’ former party leader and current Shiv Sena parliamentarian Priyanka Chaturvedi said on Wednesday that she herself red-flagged the issue several times, but, despite this, social media continues to ‘interfere in India’s internal affairs.’
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“I have been red-flagging the issue of social media platforms-whether to seek accountability, interference and democratic process & safety of women. Unfortunately, it continues to get a free pass to meddle in our internal affairs-unchecked, as it promotes the cause of a political party,” Chaturvedi posted on Twitter.
She also shared details of her exchange with then-IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in this regard.
{{/usCountry}}She also shared details of her exchange with then-IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in this regard.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi, in her speech in Lok Sabha, said that ‘misuse’ of Twitter and Facebook by leaders, parties and their proxies ‘is not helpful for our democracy.’ The Congress chief further remarked, “The government should put an end to the systematic influence and interference of Facebook and other social media giants in electoral politics in the world’s largest democracy.”
Gandhi’s address in the Lok Sabha took place in the backdrop of a recent report in Al Jazeera, which claimed that in nine out of the last 10 elections in the country, including the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Facebook offered cheaper advertisement deals to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as compared to other political parties.
“Meta-worse for democracy,” former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted in his reaction to the report. ‘Meta-worse’ is a wordplay on Facebook, which is now called Meta.