Parliamentary IT Panel summons Facebook on September 2 over social media misuse: All you need to know!

Aug 21, 2020, 13:33 IST

The summon comes in the wake of claims that the social media platform did not apply hate-speech rules to the ruling party’s politicians.

Facebook
Facebook

The parliamentary standing committee on Information Technology has summoned Facebook on September 2 to discuss the issue of alleged misuse of social media platforms. The summon comes in the wake of claims that the social media platform did not apply hate-speech rules to the ruling party’s politicians.

Besides Facebook officials, the Parliamentary IT committee has also asked representatives of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to remain present on September 2nd.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology is headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. Facebook is yet to officially respond to the summon. 

What is the agenda of the September 2 meeting?

The main agenda of the September 2nd meeting is to hear the views of the Facebook representatives on the subject 'Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space.

Parliamentary Panel summons Facebook: All you need to know!

The Lok Sabha Secretariat had issued a notification stating that the Parliamentary IT panel is scheduled to meet on September 2, 2020 to hear views of Facebook officials on the prevention of misuse of social media platforms.

The notification came a day after a senior member of the Parliamentary committee, BJP leader Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking removal of Shashi Tharoor as the panel's chairman, alleging that the Congress MP was using the platform for a political agenda.

This political row began when Shashi Tharoor announced that the Parliamentary panel would like to hear from Facebook about a report published in the Wall Street Journal, which had claimed that the social media platform ignored applying its hate-speech rules to politicians of the ruling party in India.

Congress MP’s remarks triggered a strong response from the BJP MPs of the panel especially Nishikant Dubey, who alleged that the Congress leader was using the platform to further his party's political agenda.

The political spat got extended to such a point that the two politicians sought breach of privilege proceedings against each other.

What does the WSJ report claim?

As per the report of the Wall Street Journal, one BJP MLA in Telangana often posted communal and incendiary speeches on Facebook, which clashed with the company's hate speech rules. Three other BJP leaders or Hindutva groups were also found violating the hate-speech rules on Facebook. 

While Facebook flagged their posts and removed some of the BJP MLA’s posts and demoted his account to a non-verified unofficial account without a blue tick, it did not remove the accounts altogether. 

The WSJ report also cited preferential treatment in Facebook’s move of removing thousands of Congress-linked Pakistan military posts and several fake news pages linked to the ruling party prior to the Lok Sabha Elections. The report stated that while Facebook had publically disclosed the deletion of the Congress-linked accounts, it did not disclose the removal of BJP-linked accounts. 

Parliamentary IT panel to discuss internet shutdown in Kashmir

The Parliamentary IT panel will also discuss the issue of internet shutdown in Kashmir and has called a meeting with the representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir administration and others on September 1. The representatives of the ministries of communications and home affairs from Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi governments are expected to be present on the occasion, as per the notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. 

Sangeeta Nair is a news professional with 6+ years of experience in news, education, lifestyle, research and videos. She has a bachelors in History and Master in Mass Communication. At jagranjosh.com, she writes on Current Affairs. She can be reached at sangeeta.nair@jagrannewmedia.com.
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