Facebook Row: Delhi Assembly Panel Summons India MD on 15 Sept

Delhi Assembly’s Committee on Peace and Harmony issues a notice to Facebook India Vice-President and MD Ajit Mohan.

Ajit Mohan is to appear before the Delhi Assembly’s Committee on Peace and Harmony on 15 September.

(Photo: PTI)

In light of the ongoing debate around Facebook’s inaction in stifling hate speech of BJP politicians, the Delhi Assembly's Committee on Peace and Harmony has issued a notice to Facebook India vice-president and managing director Ajit Mohan.

Mohan is to appear before the Committee on 15 September to respond to allegations of "intentional omission and deliberate inaction on the part of social media platform,” ANI reported.

Headed by AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, the Committee had stated on 31 August, that prima facie, it seemed that Facebook also had a role in the northeast Delhi violence, earlier this year.

The Committee also took cognisance of the Wall Street Journal’s report, which highlights top public-policy executive in the country, Ankhi Das, restraint in applying the hate-speech rules on BJP leaders.

“The committee, under the Chairmanship of Hon’be MLA Sh. Raghav Chadha, calls you, the addressee, as a witness for testifying on oath and for rendering your assistance by providing the relevant information and explanations in order to smoothly expedite the determination of the veracity of allegations levelled against Facebook in the complaints and depositions made before the committee,” the letter to Mohan, dated 10 September, read.

Mohan had earlier been grilled for over two-and-a-half hours by the Parliamentary Committee on IT on 2 September over these allegations.

A 30-member standing committee asked a wide range of questions including the WSJ report on allegations of political bias, and inaction on hate speech posts and political advertisements during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In his response, the Facebook MD highlighted that in the second quarter of 2020 the platform has taken down 22.5 million hate speech posts globally, and that there is no question of supporting any hate speech.

(With inputs from ANI)