Facebook today has refuted the allegations that it is pro-BJP and claimed that they prohibit ‘hate speech’ and content that ‘incites violence’ irrespective of party affiliation.
A Facebook spokesperson was quoted by ANI saying, “We prohibit hate speech & content that incites violence & we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position/party affiliation. We’re making progress on enforcement & conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness & accuracy.”
We prohibit hate speech&content that incites violence&we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position/party affiliation. We’re making progress on enforcement&conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness&accuracy: Facebook spokesperson pic.twitter.com/8zHJhZuXXJ
— ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2020
In the last few days, opposition parties and their supporters are locking horns with Facebook over allegations of ignoring alleged hate speech by members of Bhartiya Janata Party. Facebook, in a statement, has rubbished the claims and said that they do not favour any political party or position. Facebook added that they penalise everyone for posting hate speech irrespective of their political affiliation.
WSJ claims Facebook is pro-BJP
In a report published in the Wall Street Journal, it was claimed that the Facebook India officials were reluctant in taking steps against an alleged anti-Muslim post by a BJP linked account(s). The report claimed that a top executive at Facebook India does not consider anti-Muslim posts as ‘hate speech’. The name of a senior Facebook official Ankhi Das was cited in the report by The Wire as the alleged BJP supporter. Some Twitter users, including Nidhi, ex-NDTV journalist, posted on Twitter that they have left Facebook to mark their protest against the alleged ‘pro-BJP’ stand of Facebook.
