Facebook issues carefully worded statement amid BJP-Congress war on its hate-speech policy

After a big war-of-words erupted between the Congress and the BJP on Sunday following a report in foreign media claiming that Facebook ignored applying its hate speech rules to politicians of the ruling party in India, the social media giant has issued a statement. A Facebook spokesperson on Monday said that the company prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence. It added that it enforces these policies globally without regard to anyone's political position/party affiliation.

'Making progress on enforcement'

"We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position/party affiliation. We're making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy," the spokesperson said.

BJP IT Cell Head Amit Malviya on Sunday said that the BJP and the 'wider conservative ecosystem' is not aligned to Facebook as the latter removed 700 pages aligned to a nationalist narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections last year.

'In fact, the reverse is true'

Speaking to ANI, he said, "It is ludicrous to suggest that the BJP and the wider conservative ecosystem is aligned to Facebook. In fact, the reverse is true. In the run-up to the 2019 general elections, Facebook removed 700 pages. Most of them were aligned to a nationalist narrative."

"The communities that they have taken down after that is also fairly large. There is no redressal whatsoever. Therefore to suggest that Facebook is aligned to BJP is absolutely untrue," he added.

Malviya further slammed Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi for hate speech. "As far as hate speech is concerned, Sonia Gandhi is at the forefront of it. Her divisive speech led to widescale rioting, death and destruction in Delhi. If Facebook has to address hate speech, they have to start with Sonia Gandhi," he said. "What constitutes hate speech or does not is decided by India's constitutional framework and extant rules and not the Congress," he added.

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'BJP & RSS control Facebook & WhatsApp': Rahul

On Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and RSS of spreading "fake news" using Facebook and WhatsApp to influence the electorate, triggering a sharp counter-attack from Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who reminded the opposition party of the Cambridge Analytica issue.

READ | BJP, 'wider conservative ecosystem' not aligned to Facebook, says Malviya; slams Sonia

'Now have the gall to question us?': RSP 

The Congress demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the charges mentioned in the report, saying they threaten the foundation of Indian democracy and need to be investigated.

READ | Congress hints at Parliamentary probe into Facebook's 'hate-speech policy' for BJP

In the report published on Friday, the US newspaper cited interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana after he allegedly made communally charged posts.

READ | Rahul Gandhi on Facebook's 'hate-speech policy' for BJP: 'Influenced electorate with it'

(With agency inputs)