Whistleblower Alleges Facebook's Dismal Response To Hate Speech In India
A former Facebook employee's testimony to US lawmakers on Tuesday alleged company's limited role in the well being of its users, the spread of misinformation and the threat to democracy.
In an evocative speech, Frances Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook's misinformation team claimed how Facebook's inaction could compromise democracy itself.?Days before the testimony, Haugen had been sharing documents with The Wall Street Journal which highlighted the company's apathy towards its users in different countries and from different age groups including kids.
India's RSS finds mention
India, too found mention in these documents. While referring to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Haugen said that its members and affiliates indulged in "fear mongering" in a complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The complaint in general attempted to address how Facebook "promotes global division and ethnic violence". India finds mention in four out of these eight complaints made to the SEC, which were made public by CBS.?Along with US and Brazil, India is placed in "Tier 0", meaning "Top 3 political priorities" for the company.?
Also read:?Facebook Crisis: Whistleblower Shares How FB Chose Profit Over User's Mental Health
In terms of tackling misinformation and hate speech, US received 87 per cent of all Facebook's resources, while "the rest of the world" got only 13 per cent.?
This implies that Facebook is able to attack only 3-5 per cent of hate speech and 0.2 per cent of "violence and inciting" content on its platforms, as reported by TheWire. Ironically, out of Facebook's 2.89 billion monthly users, 340 million are from India.
According to an Economic Times report, “RSS (Indian nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamswvak Sangh) Users, Groups, and Pages promote fear-mongering, anti-Muslim narratives targeted pro-Hindu populations with V&I (violence and inciting) intent,” the complaint filed with SEC reads.
Also read:?Facebook Whistleblower: FB Knows You're Addicted But Won't Do Anything About It
Facebook knows it all
According to a Hindustan Times report based on a reveal by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook has been aware of India's political problems for some time now. In 2020, a report termed "Bajrang Dal" a "dangerous" organisation. Even then, no action was taken because it "might endanger both the company's business prospects and its staff in India".
This allegation is in tune with what Haugen revealed about Facebook, saying that the company chooses profit over anything else while making policy decisions that have far reaching effects on democracy.
Do you think Facebook is doing enough to counter hate speech and fear mongering in India at the moment? Let us know in the comments below.
For more latest happenings in the world of science and technology, continue reading Indiatimes.com.??
