Parliamentary panel should question Meta on fact-check, guidelines on hate speech: TMC MP

PTI, Jan 15, 2025, 1:47 PM IST

Zuckerberg (afp/file)

New Delhi:  If Meta executives are summoned by the Parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, they should be questioned about the company’s decision to stop fact-checking and changes in its content guidelines on hate speech and disinformation, panel member and TMC MP Saket Gokhale said on Wednesday.

Gokhale’s remarks come a day after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the panel, said the committee will summon executives from social media giant Meta for “tarnishing” India’s image amid a controversy over its CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement during a podcast that after the COVID-19 pandemic, most incumbent governments, including the one in India, lost elections in 2024.

In a letter to Dubey, Gokhale said that in the same interview, Zuckerberg also announced that the platform would be ending its fact-check programme and would also be making changes to its community guidelines.

“It has been reported on several occasions that there has been a significant misuse of Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) for spreading hate speech in India. There are concerns about Meta not adequately acting towards removing hateful content and taking action against accounts that spread such content,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

He also said there has also been “immense criticism” of the role of Meta’s platforms in spreading “disinformation and fake news”.

“During the time of elections, it has also been noted by several independent reviewers that Meta tends to exhibit a bias towards certain political parties and does not apply the guidelines for political content uniformly,” he said.

Gokhale said Meta has often been accused of not adhering to the guidelines of the Model Code of Conduct during elections and allowed certain political parties to create proxy accounts that are used for election propaganda.

“As you rightly said, Meta potentially impacts free and fair elections and the impact of its actions on our democracy needs to be examined,” he said.

When the panel summons Meta executives, the TMC leader said, it should also question them on the rollback of Meta’s fact-checking system and changes in the company’s content guidelines on hate speech and disinformation.

He also said the panel should question them on Meta’s “alleged bias towards select political parties in India” and “the effect of Meta’s algorithm in promoting hate speech, fake news and harassment”.

The TMC Rajya Sabha MP urged Dubey that the issues be included in the meeting agenda when the committee summons Meta for a hearing.

“These are matters with great ramifications on Indian democracy and it is our duty to exercise oversight and ensure accountability from social media platforms at the highest level,” he said.

Zuckerberg reportedly claimed in a podcast that in elections around the world in 2024, most incumbent governments, including the one in India, lost power.

This was countered by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who said that Zuckerberg’s statement was “factually incorrect” and as the world’s largest democracy, India conducted the 2024 general elections involving more than 640 million (64 crore) voters.

Dubey, quoting Vaishnaw’s rebuttal in a post on X, said the Parliamentary committee will call Meta for this “wrong information” and that it should apologise for the statement.