New Delhi: Over 40 NGOs, on Thursday, wrote an open letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg asking them to take decisive action to address Facebook India’s prejudiced stand addressing dangerous content in India.
The contents posted on Facebook have been spurring mass riots in the country for the past seven years, stated the letter.
“A mislabeled video on social media was instrumental in stoking the horrific 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in which 62 people were killed. A BJP politician was even arrested for sharing the video,” the NGOs stated in the letter, reported Economic Times.
According to the report, the NGOs have stated Facebook must take immediate steps to ensure the independence and thoroughness of the ongoing human rights audit of its India operations, encompassing caste, religious bias, and elections operations. The audit must be removed entirely from the influence of the India office and the company should immediately place Sankhi Das on a leave of absence, due to the reports of her role in Facebook’s ‘continued failure’ to enforce its policies in India.
South Asians Building Accountability & Healing (SABAH), Hope Not Hate, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, Muslim Advocates and Free Press including Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA), Dangerous Speech Project, Aspiration Tech, Indian American Muslim Council, Media Justice, Fight for the Future, Sakhi for South Asian Women are the other NGOs mentioned in the letter.
