The resignation of Ankhi Das comes weeks after Facebook and Ankhi Das faced questions from employees and the government over moderation of political content on its platforms, and how political content is regulated on the popular social media platform, which boasts over 300 million users in the country.
Facebook was called before a parliamentary panel chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, but instead of Ms. Das, Mr. Mohan turned up to field questions. The company was also summoned by the Peace and Harmony committee of the Delhi Assembly, but did not appear.
Last week Ms. Das appeared before a parliamentary panel over another matter – concerns over data privacy – and was questioned for nearly two hours.
Activists across the India had called for Ankhi Das to stepped down, referring to the escalating violence against Muslims in the country.
Ankhi Das, the Facebook policy chief for India, whose name came up in a recent controversy over alleged bias by the social networking giant in dealing with hate speeches, stepped down her position after months of mounting pressure from activists across India.
Facebook India has been trying to react to the increasing threat of hate speech against Muslims. Facebook had been always slow to take any action against the Right-wing nationalist groups responsible for the violence, which has led to worries that the company was repeating the mistakes which led similar violence in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
In September, a coalition of human rights groups sent an open letter calling for Das’ resignation in response to the growing threat of violence.
Excerpts from the letter…
- Facebook should not be complicit in more offline violence, much less another genocide, but the pattern of inaction displayed by the company is reckless to the point of complicity.
- Group urge Facebook to take decisive action to address Facebook India’s bias and failure to address dangerous content in India.
- The groups also called for Facebook’s internal review of the issue to be conducted out of the company’s California offices, rather than in India where Das might have more influence.
Ankhi Das also courted criticism in her personal behavior, aligning herself with the ruling BJP party and openly confronting critics. In August, she filed a criminal complaint against a string of critics, alleging that their posts constituted criminal intimidation. The complaint was extreme enough to draw criticism from the international Committee to Protect Journalists, which saw the charges as a potential threat to the free press.
In August, articles by The Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine – alleged Facebook and WhatsApp did not apply hate speech rules uniformly. Speeches by BJP leaders that circulated widely on these platforms ahead of the February violence in Delhi were cited.
The Journal also said Ms. Ankhi Das – suggested to the company that punishing such violations by BJP workers “would damage (its) business prospects”.
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