New Delhi: Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has shot off a sharp letter to Facebook, accusing its employees in India of abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Ministers.
“I have been informed that in the run up to 2019 general elections in India, there was a concerted effort by Facebook India management to not just delete pages or substantially reduce their reach but also offer no recourse or right of appeal to affected people who are supportive of right-of-centre ideology,” he said in his three-page letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.
Prasad said such documented cases of bias and inaction are seemingly a direct outcome of a dominant political beliefs of individuals in the Facebook India team.
“Individuals working in any organisation may have their individual likes or dislikes, but that must not have any bearing on the public policies and performance of the organisation,” he said.
A Parliamentary panel, headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, is meeting today to discuss alleged misuse of the social media platform Facebook.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has summoned representatives of Facebook and will hear their views ‘on the subject of safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space, according to the agenda of the meeting.