Sena drags Sushant's death case in Cong-BJP exchange over Facebook's 'hate-speech policy'

Opining on the recent controversy on Facebook's hate speech policy and Rahul Gandhi's remark that Facebook is 'BJP & RSS controlled', Shiv Sena via its mouthpiece Saamana on August 18 has made a veiled attack on the Centre. In its editorial, Sena said that Facebook is being used as a platform to spread enmity between Hindus and Muslims and has promoted hate speech. Claiming that the tags of being a 'silent PM' on former PM Manmohan Singh were generated on Facebook, Sena seemed to blame BJP for running a digital campaign in 2014 and 2019 general elections to mark its victory.

Furthermore, dragging in the mysteries surrounding Sushant Singh Rajput's case, Sena said that Facebook groups have declared themselves as investigative agencies, judges in the case. Sena said that Facebook should not overlook the enmity that is being brought in the society using its platforms 'by members of the party in power.' Sena also claimed that Facebook has accepted that some BJP leaders used its platform for electoral gains and pressurized to not take action against them.

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Rahul Gandhi lashes out at BJP

Earlier on Monday, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi alleged that 'BJP & RSS controlled Facebook' while opining on a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on hate-speech on Facebook. He claimed that the 'American media had finally come out with the truth about Facebook'. Gandhi, who has been continually critical of the Modi government alleged that the BJP spread fake news and hatred through Facebook to influence the electorate. Facebook has currently invested a whopping $5.7 billion in the Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio platforms, raking a 9.9% stake in the company.

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What does the WSJ report claim?

The American newspaper Wall Street Journal claimed that BJP's Telangana MLA T Raja Singh had often made communal and incendiary speeches that were posted on Facebook, clashing with the company's hate speech rules. The report claims that inspite of the posts allegedly violating Facebook's hate-speech rules and qualifying as dangerous, Facebook India's top public-policy executive Ankhi Das had claimed that punishing violations by BJP would 'damage the company's business prospects in India'. Apart from Singh, three other BJP leaders or Hindutva groups were allegedly flagged by Facebook for hate-speech. 

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The report further points out that Facebook has faced issues to launch its telecommunications service - Free Basics in 2016 from the Modi government, as it violated net neutrality. The report further stated that while some of Singh's posts were removed by Facebook, the social media giant has demoted Singh's account to a non-verified, unofficial account without a blue tick.Citing preferential treatment by Facebook, WSJ points to the removal of thousands of Congress-linked Pakistan military posts and several BJP-linked fake news pages prior to the Lok Sabha elections. While Facebook publically disclosed the deletion of the Congress-linked accounts, it allegedly did not disclose the removal of the BJP-linked posts.

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