Case against Facebook: House panel calls witnesses

On Monday, Delhi Legislative Assembly’s peace & harmony panel has decided to call upon some witnesses to further determine the veracity of the serious allegations against FB.

Chairman of the committee, Raghav Chadha, had received multiple complaints on alleged instances of intentional & deliberate inaction on the part of the social media platform to enforce its policies against inflammatory & hateful content. 

On Aug 31, a formal notice for appearance before the committee has been sent to 4 Senior Journalists & a Lawyer.

On Aug 25, the committee thoroughly examined its key witnesses including co-author of the book The Real Face of FB in India, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. 

A statement from the committee stated that in his deposition, Thakurta alleged that there is sufficient circumstantial evidence to show an unholy nexus between the ruling dispensation & Facebook. He highlighted the alleged complicity of FB in forwarding a certain narrative at the cost of allegedly suppressing contrasting narratives.

The statement mentioned Thakurta had also affirmed a free & fair investigation must be conducted by an independent investigating agency to ascertain if there was any complicity of Facebook officials in the alleged deliberate inaction. 

Source Link