The Congress party has often accused social media giants of colluding with the BJP and being biased towards the central government. Based on a news report by the Wall Street Journal, even Rahul Gandhi himself had targeted Facebook over the matter. But now, it appears, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal is appearing for Facebook in the Delhi High Court.
The plea was filed by Bollywood production houses at the Delhi High Court against Republic TV and Times Now over their alleged derogatory reporting. Facebook was made a party to the suit as well and the social media giant appears to have hired Kapil Sibal to represent them at the Court. Appearing for Facebook, Kapil Sibal argued that the tech giant had no role in the suit.
@KapilSibal appearing for @Facebook : We’re abide by this court’s orders but we really have no role to play as per Shreya Singhal judgment #ArnabGoswami @navikakumar @republic @TimesNow
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 9, 2020
Subsequently, Facebook India sought deletion from the suit as a necessary party. It ought to be mentioned that when the Aankhi Das controversy broke out, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that Facebook and WhatsApp was controlled in India by the RSS and BJP. It is not clear why a senior Congress leader would offer their services for an entity that is controlled by the BJP and RSS.
It is not entirely clear either why an entity controlled by BJP and RSS would seek the services of a senior Congress leader either. Apart from Rahul Gandhi, Ankhi Das had come under severe criticism from others as well due to her alleged inaction over alleged hate-speech by accounts linked to the BJP. She had later filed a case at the Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell unit over violent threats that she received. Only days before Facebook hired Kapil Sibal’s services as a lawyer, Ankhi Das had resigned from Facebook to pursue her interests in public service.
