TCN News
Indian American network of civil rights organizations and activists, The Coalition to Stop Genocide in India, has urged the US House of Representatives on Monday to probe the role of Facebook in amplifying hate speech across the world.
“There exists ample evidence in the public domain that hateful rhetoric online, especially by influential groups and individuals, have led to actual violence destroying countless lives in India, Myanmar and other countries,” the Coalition stated in its latest session.
Citing the Delhi Minorities Commission Fact-Finding Report on the February 2020 Delhi pogrom, the Coalition quoted that “many of the killings were coordinated over WhatsApp,” which is owned by Facebook. It also stated that “a hair-raising news report by online magazine Quint documented how Facebook live sessions were used to make open calls to target Muslims and Dalits.” In addition, The Wire also pointed out how violence against Dalits, Adivasis and other dissenters was “organized using one of the Facebook platforms.”
“Outrage and calls for a public accountability process of Facebook’s role in knowingly enabling the incitement of mass violence in India have grown,” the Coalition said.
As an urgent act of remedial, it has demanded that Ankhi Das, Facebook’s Policy Chief in India be fired.
“By blocking punitive action against some Facebook accounts belonging to high ranking politicians from the ruling BJP party, Ms Das has allowed the accounts to continue their hateful and violent rhetoric.
The statement further accused of Das being “an enabler for them to incite hate and mass violence against social and religious minorities.”
In its statement against the social media platform, the Coalition also mentioned the Wall Street Journal’s “incisive expose” titled “Inside Facebook, Hate –Speech Rules Collide with Indian Politics” that was recently released – unequivocally establishing Facebook India as “actively complicit in fanning the flames of Islamophobia and caste atrocities in a quest for chasing markets and money at any expense.”
The report, made public on the eve of India’s 74th Independence Day, extensively details how individuals and groups who were flagged “for promoting or participating in violence” by Facebook’s internal processes were “allowed to stay on the platform” even though the social media platform’s rules required such entities to be expelled immediately.
The Coalition found that according to internal communications at Facebook India, Das justified overruling concerns raised by its employees as “necessary to prevent hurting the company’s relationship with India’s ruling party, and consequently its business prospects in the country.”
Additionally, she also played a role in “suppressing information that hateful content Facebook did remove from the platform was tied to BJP.”
Based on the above, Sana Qutbuddin, Director of Advocacy at Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) said, “We welcome scrutiny into the scandal announced by India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology.” Supporting the decision, Pawan Singh, Director of the Organization of Minorities in India continued, while a full extent of corruption within Facebook can only be gauged through a Congressional probe launched by the US House of Representatives and that while it may not run deep, especially within Facebook’s corporate offices in India, “firing Ms Ankhi Das would be the right step it needs to take to demonstrate accountability.”
Further, the Coalition highlighted that Facebook “was also found abetting post-COVID-19 Islamophobia in India,” and that Das’s team took “no action” after BJP politicians posted “inflammatory content falsely accusing Muslims of intentionally spreading the coronavirus.”
“Online hate has real-world repercussions on the lives of millions of people,” reiterated Raja Swamy of Coalition Against Fascism in India. He urged civil society organizations around the world “to join in demanding accountability and implementation of stern processes for monitoring hate speech.”
The Coalition to Stop Genocide in India, on behalf of partner associations reassured of its commitment to safeguarding American institutions and discourse from the “virulent Hindutva ideology” and echoed its fight to “expose not only Hindutva front organizations in the US but also the role of US-based corporations in enabling the human rights abuses and religious freedom violations in India.”