The government on Wednesday rejected a demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the reports that Facebook did nothing to censor hate posts by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi told CNN-News18 that there was no logic to the Congress demand for a probe into the allegations of a Facebook-BJP nexus, and said it was only a manifestation of the party’s frustration after losing the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Joshi said that perhaps Congress leaders like former party chief Rahul Gandhi believed that FB stood for ‘Frustration Book’. He said that the Congress had earlier doubted the Election Commission, Supreme Court and the CAG, and now “that all democratic institutions are over, they are going after Facebook.”
The Congress demand came after a report in US newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, stated that Facebook had bent over backwards to favour the BJP – even going to the extent of ignoring hate speech by party leaders.
In the article titled "Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics -- Company executive opposed move to ban controversial politician", the WSJ also reported that an executive of the social media giant had said punishing violations by BJP workers "would damage the company's business prospects in the country".
Quoting current and former employees, the article said Facebook has a "broader pattern of favouritism" towards the BJP.
The issue has become the latest flash point between the Congress and the BJP, with the former on Sunday saying that the matter is so serious that it should not be investigated by anything less than the JPC. The party also demanded that Facebook conduct its own probe into the allegations.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS control Facebook and WhatsApp in India. “They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook,” Gandhi tweeted.
In response, union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called Gandhi a “loser”, and said he cannot influence people in his own party, but complains about the BJP and RSS.
Congress MP and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology Chairperson Shashi Tharoor also said that the panel would look into report, and will seek the views of Facebook on the issue. “I will certainly look into the issue and the committee will seek the views of Facebook,” Tharoor told a newspaper.
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