Congress demands thorough, impartial probe in Facebook India operations

In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, AICC General secretary organization KC Venugopal also called for a new team to lead the Facebook India operations until the inquiry is complete.

In the letter to Zuckerberg, Venugopal, referring to the article by the Wall Street Journal that said that Facebook India’s officials took no action against BJP leaders despite their posting of hate speech content on the social media platform, said that the article is a damning and serious allegation of Facebook India’s interference in India’s electoral democracy.

'As India's oldest political party that fought for India's freedom and established electoral democracy through universal adult franchise, it is deeply disturbing to note that Facebook may be a willing participant in thwarting the very rights and values that our founding leaders sacrificed their lives for,' Venugopal said.

Calling for a thorough and impartial investigation into the Facebook India operations, Venugopal said, 'we believe it is still not too late to course correct and make amends. The starting point of the remedial measures is a thorough and impartial investigation into the Facebook India operations.

The party also called for a new team to lead the Facebook India operations until the inquiry is complete.

Posting the letter on his Twitter account, Rahul said, “we cannot allow any manipulation of our hard-earned democracy through bias, fake news and hate speech.”

Congress leader and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology Shashi Tharoor on Monday tweeted that the panel would “wish to hear from Facebook about these reports and what they propose to do about hate-speech in India”.