NEW DELHI: A Delhi Assembly panel decided on Tuesday to issue a "final notice" to Facebook after no representative appeared before the committee that is hearing allegations against the social media giant.
During proceedings, Peace and Harmony Committee Chairman and AAP MLA Raghav Chadha said non-appearance of any Facebook representative before the panel was not only "contempt" of Assembly, but also an "insult" of the two crore people of Delhi.
The panel had issued a notice to Facebook India vice president and managing director Ajit Mohan last week, asking him to appear before it on September 15 in connection with complaints about the social media giant's alleged deliberate inaction to curb hateful content in the country.
The Facebook lawyer, in a reply to the committee's notice, said the matter was under consideration of Parliament, which is "untenable", Chadha pointed out.
"The failure of Facebook to appear before the committee shows that it is trying to hide its role in the Delhi riots," he said.
After consulting other members of the committee, Chadha decided to issue a final notice to Facebook.
"As per principle of natural justice, we should give a last chance to Facebook vice president and managing director to appear before the committee. Still, if he does not come, the committee will not desist from using all its powers, including coercive steps," he said.
The hearing by the assembly panel follows a Wall Street Journal report that claimed that one of Facebook's senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a BJP lawmaker from Telangana after he allegedly shared communally-charged posts.
Non-appearance of top Facebook official Ajit Mohan, called as a witness to depose before the committee, is "contempt" of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and disregard of the Assembly's privilege, Chadha said in a statement.
"In the interest of natural justice, the committee has decided to afford one last opportunity to Ajit Mohan to appear before the committee on the next date of meeting," he said.
In the event of subsequent default, the committee will be constrained to invoke its power to initiate "breach of privilege proceedings" against Facebook India unit and thus inviting penal jurisdiction of the House among others, he said.
"Overriding jurisdiction of central government is cited as reasons for objecting to committee's notice for appearance which seems like a sly attempt to evade responsibility and conceal facts," Chadha said.
The AAP MLA said Facebook chose to "dishonour" the committee's powers and privileges under the garb of obliging with directives of a parliamentary committee.
He clarified that the notice of appearance issued to Facebook is directly related to the incidents of violence that occurred in Delhi in February 2020, whereas the proceedings in Parliament are on the subject "Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social, online news media platforms, including special emphasis on women security in the digital space".
Chadha insisted that Facebook must honour the proceedings taking place under the Delhi's state legislature in the same manner as it did for Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Last month, Facebook had said that its social media platform prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence, and these policies were enforced globally without regard to political 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 had said.