NEW DELHI: Facebook on Friday said it was an “open, transparent and non-partisan social media platform”, amid allegations that the company did not apply hate speech rules for posts by certain ruling party politicians.
Recently, a Wall Street Journal report alleged that Facebook’s content policies favoured the ruling party in India. Since then, the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have been trading barbs over social media giant’s alleged bias.
A parliamentary standing committee headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor will meet Facebook representatives on September 2. A blog post by Facebook India vice-president and MD Ajit Mohan said it is a platform where people can express themselves freely.
He added: “We have removed and will continue to remove content posted by public figures in India when it violates our community standards.” He also said when it came to enforcement of policies around hate speech, there was no place for hate speech.
The impartial approach to content is independent of anyone’s political position, party affiliation or religious and cultural belief.
Company’s senior India policy executive Ankhi Das allegedly intervened in a review process of the communal posts of BJP’s Telangana MLA T Raja Singh, the article said.