NEW DELHI: Delhi summoned Facebook’s India chief Saturday to answer allegations that the social media giant failed to remove dangerous content in its biggest market globally.
India is the US-based firm and its messaging service WhatsApp’s biggest market in terms of users, and the company is under pressure worldwide over the policing of hate speech.
Facebook has been embroiled in a huge row in India after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in August that the site failed to take down anti-Muslim comments by a politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in order to protect its business interests.
The Delhi Assembly panel on peace and harmony said Saturday it would investigate evidence — described by the committee as “incriminating material on record” — submitted by four prominent journalists and digital rights activists.
The committee has asked Ajit Mohan, the managing director of Facebook India, to appear before it on September 15 to determine the “veracity of allegations” made by the group.
It follows US civil rights groups claiming last week that the firm had failed to address hateful content in India and demanded that its India policy chief, Ankhi Das, be removed.
Facebook has denied any political bias but admitted it has to do better to curb hate speech.
The panel — headed by Raghav Chadha, a lawmaker with a party rivalling Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s BJP — also said the firm should be probed over its “alleged role and complicity” in the sectarian Delhi riots in February.
Around 50 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the worst unrest in years between India’s majority Hindus and minority Muslims.
After the furor over the WSJ’s August report, Facebook blocked T. Raja Singh, a BJP lawmaker who had said Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar should be shot.
Singh told said he would fight the ban and that Facebook’s action was an attack on BJP.
Delhi summons top Indian Facebook official over hateful content
https://arab.news/2xx9p
Delhi summons top Indian Facebook official over hateful content
- Facebook has been embroiled in a huge row in India
- Social media giant denies any political bias but admitted it has to do better to curb hate speech
Tunisian journalist Chatha BelHajj Mubarak freed after sentence cut
- The court cut her sentence from five years to two, making her eligible for immediate release, her brother told Reuters
TUNIS: A Tunisian appeal court on Wednesday ordered the release of journalist Chatha BelHajj Mubarak, jailed since 2023 in a conspiracy case, after reducing her prison sentence, her family said.
The court cut her sentence from five years to two, making her eligible for immediate release, her brother told Reuters.
She was convicted in the so-called “Instalingo” case, which involved politicians, media figures and other defendants accused of conspiracy and financial crimes. BelHajj Mubarak denied the charges.
“Chatha is free and leaving prison,” her brother, Amen BelHajj Mubarak, said.
He said her health had severely deteriorated during her time in prison. She suffered serious complications, including significant hearing loss, and was diagnosed with cancer in detention, he added.
Tunisian authorities have said the case stems from judicial investigations into alleged financial and security-related offenses, and have rejected accusations by opposition groups that the prosecutions were politically motivated.
Tunisian prosecutors are pursuing a number of high-profile conspiracy cases involving politicians, journalists and activists. Several opposition leaders have received lengthy prison terms.
