Congress welcomes change in Facebook India’s leadership, but calls for revamp of its institutional processes

The Congress party has welcomed the change in Facebook India’s leadership team, following reports that Facebook’s Head of Policy in India, Ankhi Das has resigned.

In a statement released on Wednesday, KC Venugopal, MP and General Secretary, In-charge of Organization, AICC said that the matter will, however, not be resolved by just changing one individual.

“Facebook must demonstrate its neutrality through a thorough revamp of its institutional processes and standing operating procedures, so as to ensure fool proof checks and balances that cannot be tinkered by an individual's whims and political leanings. It must also outline steps taken to curb false, polarizing and hate news/content spread rampantly on its platform threatening India’s social harmony,” he said.

Here’s the full text of the statement:

It has been reported that Facebook’s Head of Policy in India, Ms. Ankhi Das has resigned.

On August 14th, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal had reported substantively and conclusively on the blatant biases of Facebook India’s team headed by Ms. Ankhi Das and her political partisanship towards the ruling party and its leader, by way of willful propagation, sustenance and spread of fake and hate news and content.

There were 2 more articles in Time magazine and Wall Street Journal, reiterating these issues with Facebook India.

As a concerned stakeholder in India’s proud electoral democracy, the Congress party took up this issue seriously. Former Congress President Shri. Rahul Gandhi first brought this matter to the attention of the Indian public through his tweet on August 16th. The Congress party then held a press conference and demanded a Joint Parliamentary committee to be set up to hear into and look into the issue.

Shockingly and also in a blatant 'give away', the Minister of Information & Broadcasting, GoI was among the first to defend Facebook India publicly. The fact that a Minister of the Government of India rushed to defend an allegation made against a private American company by an American newspaper exposed the nexus between Facebook India and the ruling party.

Subsequently, the Congress party wrote two formal letters to the Chairman of Facebook Inc, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg urging him to look into the matter seriously. Facebook Inc. responded to the Congress party’s letter reiterating their neutrality and promising due action.

In this context, the Congress party welcomes the change in Facebook India’s leadership team. However, the matter will not be resolved by just changing one individual. Facebook must demonstrate its neutrality through a thorough revamp of its institutional processes and standing operating procedures, so as to ensure fool proof checks and balances that cannot be tinkered by an individual's whims and political leanings. It must also outline steps taken to curb false, polarizing and hate news/content spread rampantly on its platform threatening India’s social harmony.