BJP Sent Facebook a List of 44 Pages Before Lok Sabha Polls, 14 of Them Have Been Taken Down: Report

Four months before the Lok Sabha elections in May 2019, the BJP had sent to Facebook India a list of 44 pages that posted content against the party, it was reported on Monday. According to Indian Express, the BJP flagged the pages claiming they were “in violation of expected standards” and carried posts that were “not in line with facts.’

Fourteen of those pages, including sites in support of journalists Ravish Kumar and Vinod Dua, are no longer on available on the social media platform.

Other pages red-flagged by the ruling party include Bhim Army’s official page, ‘We Hate BJP’ — a satire page, pages that supported Congress, and a one called ‘The Truth of Gujarat’.

Then in November, BJP asked Facebook India to “monetise” two right-leaning news websites — The Chaupal and OpIndia — and also requested that 17 deleted pages be reinstated on the platform, the Indian Express report said.

In November last year, the BJP also asked Facebook India to re-instate 17 deleted pages and allow — right-leaning pages The Chaupal and OpIndia —to receive ad revenue for their content, the report said. Not only did Facebook put all 17 of these pages pack, it also told BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya that they were taken down “erroneously”.

“There were pages like I Support Narendra Modi and other large pages run by genuine volunteers who were fearful they might get struck down. We have in the past spoken to Facebook and asked them to do the right thing. They barely even respond to us. We were seeking a more transparent and fair system. Clearly, they have thought otherwise,” Amit Malviya was quoted as saying.

The revelation comes weeks after a report in US newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, stated that Facebook had bent over backwards to favour the BJP – even going to the extent of ignoring hate speech by party leaders.

In the article, titled ‘Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics — Company executive opposed move to ban controversial politician’, the WSJ also reported that an executive of the social media giant had said punishing violations by BJP workers “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country”.

Quoting current and former employees, the article said Facebook has a “broader pattern of favouritism” towards the BJP.

The issue became a flash point between the Congress and the BJP, with the former saying that the matter is so serious it should not be investigated by anything less than a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). The party also demanded that Facebook conduct its own probe into the allegations.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS control Facebook and 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,” Gandhi tweeted.

In response, union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called Gandhi a “loser”, and said he cannot influence people in his own party, but complains about the BJP and RSS.

The central government later rejected a demand for a JPC probe.

However, on August 19 a report by Reuters claimed that In the United States and around the world, Facebook employees have raised questions about whether adequate procedures and content regulation practices were being followed by the team in India.

An open letter written to social media giant’s leadership by 11 employees on one internal platform demanded that company leaders acknowledge and denounce “anti-Muslim bigotry” and ensure more policy consistency. The letter also demanded that Facebook’s “policy team in India (and elsewhere) includes diverse representation.”