"Shreya Singhal v. Union of India shields Twitter from any liability for failing to take down content unless a court order is passed asking it to do the same."<p>source: <a href="https://internetfreedom.in/joint-letter-to-twitter-about-removal-of-prashant-bhushan-tweets/" rel="nofollow">https://internetfreedom.in/joint-letter-to-twitter-about-rem...</a>
It is a strategically risky move for Facebook to take an active role in shaping India's political landscape. I imagine that the Indian population might object to American companies deciding what is and isn't appropriate to discuss.
Here's a report by Equality Labs about Facebook India and Hate speech.<p><a href="https://www.equalitylabs.org/facebookindiareport" rel="nofollow">https://www.equalitylabs.org/facebookindiareport</a>
This can only be solved when more and more people understand the threats not just for the present, but for the future.<p>What Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled are convenient and useful for those in power. So while there may probably be some words here and there, we can’t expect a lot of change on the ground.<p>Disappointingly, the Indian Supreme Court is also lethargic and chooses to look at more trivial matters than give importance to things that could affect the freedom and political landscape for generations — examples are the Aadhaar petitions, cases against the electoral bonds and other matters not being heard for years. The court may actually find merit in holding this commenter in contempt for criticizing it, as if the judiciary is somehow sacred and beyond any criticism (anyone interested can search online for recent news on what the court is doing).<p>The effect of “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is seen in many corners!
Hate speech is very common in Indian social media.<p>Also, This is not just a problem with Facebook India, Even Twitter India's heads have very close ties to India's ruling party.
Also, FB's proximity to the mega corporation that's known to be very friendly to the ruling party. FB's WhatsApp pay getting clearances / approvals soon after they made a large payment to Jio Platforms.<p>Timeline:<p>26Nov2019:
India puts WhatsApp's impending payments service on ice due to data localisation fracas.
Both the security breach by Pegasus malware and WhatsApp's reluctance to adhere to India's data localisation norms have caused it to sit on the sidelines of one of the hottest digital payments markets in the world. [1]
[1] <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/india-puts-whatsapps-impending-payments-service-on-ice-due-to-data-localisation-fracas/" rel="nofollow">https://www.zdnet.com/article/india-puts-whatsapps-impending...</a><p>24Apr2020:
Facebook is spending $5.7 billion to capitalize on India's internet boom. [2]
[2] <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/tech/facebook-india-reliance-jio/index.html" rel="nofollow">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/tech/facebook-india-relia...</a><p>08June2020:
WhatsApp gets a raw deal from India in payments. WhatsApp needs a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India to throw open the switch. [3].
[3]<a href="https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-services-and-applications/whatsapp-gets-a-raw-deal-from-india-in-payments/76252903" rel="nofollow">https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-ser...</a><p>16June2020:
WhatsApp launches payments service, 2 yrs after it began testing in India. [4]
[4]<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/whatsapp-launches-payments-service-2-yrs-after-it-began-testing-in-india/articleshow/76400100.cms" rel="nofollow">https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/whats...</a><p>03Aug
WhatsApp a step closer to pay play. [5]
[5]<a href="https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/whatsapp-a-step-closer-to-pay-play-11596419325500.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/whatsapp-a-step-cl...</a><p>04Aug2020:
WhatsApp Pay has now met all data localisation rules, NPCI tells RBI [6]
[6]<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/whatsapp-pay-has-now-met-all-data-localisation-rules-npci-tells-rbi/articleshow/77343179.cms" rel="nofollow">https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/news...</a><p>05Aug2020:
'NPCI gave ICICI Bank go ahead for WhatsApp Pay in June', RBI informs SC [7]
[7]<a href="https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-npci-approves-whatsapp-pay-rbi-supreme-court/" rel="nofollow">https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-npci-approves-whatsapp...</a>
India is a very lucrative market for FB and other companies.<p>1 billion people, 2 billion eyes. No privacy laws, can easily share and sell data, govt is in the hands of Reliance (in which FB, Google and others are all investing a lot), most Indians are just getting used to the vast internet and are easily tricked.
You can see many comments here justifying anti-Muslim actions of the govt by whataboutery. Now imagine that happening at scale on whatsapp/Facebook and MSM.<p>With most Indian family having access to smartphones, the amount of hatred and brainwashing that happens through this platform is unstoppable. Recently, Hindus were told not to buy from Muslim vendors, saying that Muslims are purposely spreading corona. Hindu sellers were provided with saffron flags for identification. Concentration camps are being built using the same people as workers, who would eventually end up in the camps. MSM openly spews anti-muslim venom during prime time. India is openly heading towards either a genocide or a civil war.<p>One can try their best to un-brainwash people, but one can't do much against a paid online army of twitter/whatsapp/facebook users.
Zuck tried to do the same with China, but for whatever reasons never disclosed, they seem did not reach an agreement for FB to enter China.<p>I suspect, China asked something that might undermine Zuck's political ambition.
For failure of legislation, judiciary, administration, media in India to protect minority, Facebook is not the primary actor. Indeed minorities failed to get support from top courts in India where habeas corpus (the most fundamental basic right of Freedom in Indian constitution) litigations are pending for over 1 year and constantly being postponed, and the topmost court is busy prosecuting a lawyer with urgency for a tweet. His main offence is to use public interest litigation to help minorities, question govt and courts and bring to the front the tyranny of majoritarian politics of suppression. He is in cross-hairs of the current govt, so it’s one another way to silence him from questioning govt or courts for decisions.<p>Agree that Facebook should act decisively to say no to things which incites violence and suppress the voice of minority.<p>The least it can do is to remove people immediately in the company who appear in slightest to promote or ignore hate and violent information on platform resulting in loss of life. Here Facebook is duty bound to act internally within its company to make sure it’s staff are responsible for their actions. I don’t see any of this indeed the whole Facebook team in India who did it are promoted based on research in WSJ and this article. Getting cozy with richest man closer to right wing is just to secure profits and market at the expense of principles.<p>Also right wing politics in India enjoys a substantial support, especially the Hitler style (reflected in many govt decisions). Facebook is just reflection of what’s in the society at present. Majority of the people are happy that a temple built will make India no. 1 in the world, talks and real actions on COVID-19 has become boring and not important as it inches towards no. 1 in the world for COVID-19 infections.
Hate speech is a core part of political discourse today. It's no longer out of the mainstream. Expecting Facebook to deal with that is asking too much of a private company. Whom should Facebook muzzle? ISIL? Le Pen? Trump?
Facebook's actions in India are absolutely despicable. The head of policy at Facebook in India is a radicalized member of the Indian rightwing and recently put up a post stating that Muslims are a "degenerate community" and was forced to apologise just a couple of days ago because of pressure on FB from their employees.<p>She gave a half hearted apology. Facebook should have immediately suspended her or sacked her:<p><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/facebook-ankhi-das-anti-muslim-post_in_5f45de23c5b6cf66b2b02390" rel="nofollow">https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/facebook-ankhi-das-anti-...</a><p>She and her sister (who is a politically connected to the ruling BJP party) have publicly been hobnobbing with the BJP and have actively been involved in propaganda.
<a href="https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1294653379046596608" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1294653379046596608</a><p>During the recent riots in Delhi where many died, the incitement of violence was by a member of the ruling party but has taken no action against Kapil Mishra's account which is still active:<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=283365149510764" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=283365149510764</a><p>His account is still active and he still continues to try and make the Hindus fight the Muslims:<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/youth4justice" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/youth4justice</a>
Removing posts by elected officials is running really close to foreign interference in domestic affairs. Given the history of the East India Company, I am sure India is especially sensitive to foreign companies trying to influence or curtail the speech of their elected officials.