Social media giant did not allow us to promote story on Amit and Jay Shah, claims Caravan Magazine

BJP Facebook link row

@the_news_21

Caravan Magazine has claimed that Facebook did not let them promote the story on Home Minister Amit Shah and BCCI chief Jay Shah, amid the Wall Street Journal report that the Mark Zuckerbeg-led company had let the BJP get away with hate speech.

“For 11 days, Facebook did not approve the request to promote our story on Amit Shah and Jay Shah. In the case of an important news story that is part of a rapidly developing news cycle, a boost 11 days after its release is meaningless,” Caravan said on its Twitter account.

Some days back WSJ published an article titled as ‘Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics’ in which it claimed that Facebook India’s Public Policy Director Ankhi Das had told her staff members that punishing ‘violations’ by BJP leaders would hurt its business prospects in the world’s second-most populous nation, which is Facebook’s biggest global market by number of users.

As per the report, Ankhi Das, who is Facebook’s top public policy executive in India, opposed applying hate speech rules to the BJP’s T. Raja Singh out of fear of ruining the company’s relationship with the ruling party.

Also Read: We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence, says Facebook after hate speech row

The report also states that Das gave the BJP “favourable treatment on election-related issues”. “In April of last year, days before voting began in India’s general election, Facebook announced it had taken down inauthentic pages tied to Pakistan’s military and the Congress party, the BJP’s main rival party. But it didn’t disclose it also removed pages with false news tied to the BJP, because Ms. Das intervened,” former employees of Facebook told The Wall Street Journal.

Soon after the news broke verbal spat between BJP and Congress started. “BJP & RSS control Facebook & Whatsapp in India. They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook”, tweeted former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.