Social networking sites are off recently are catching lot of attention in India. Numerous litigation for IT laws compliance in India besides other issues of side effects are inviting great public attention in terms of regulation of these sites.The law in this area too emerged with its own gaps. Of recently, internationally, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook data scientist-turned-whistleblower, has alleged that the social network giant’s products harm children and fuel polarisation in the United States. She has testified before the US Senate Committee.
India has begun a probe seeking details about the algorithms being used by Facebook, following revelations alleging that the social media giant’s systems can fuel hate speech and fake news. The Parliamentary standing committee on information technology has sought permission from Speaker Om Birla to have Facebook whistleblowers depose before it as allegations of the company using algorithms, that allowed the amplification of hate speech in India, panel chairperson Shashi Tharoor said on Monday.
Another former Facebook employee, Sophie Zhang, earlier exposed the company’s partisan policy in removing inauthentic accounts from the social media platform ahead of the 2020 Delhi elections. Zhang is among several former Facebook employees and contractors who have said that the company’s policies and management are leading to harm. In a tweet last month, she had also said she would be willing to testify before the Indian Parliament.
On last Tuesday, the Ministry of Electronics and IT ( MeitY) wrote a letter to Facebook India’s managing director Ajit Mohan seeking information on the processes followed by the American Big Tech company to moderate content on its platform and the methods employed to prevent harm to online users, the sources said. The missive follows recent revelations by whistle blower Frances Haugen that have “alarmed” the government, specifically with regard to the so-called India experiment, where a dummy users feed was filled with false and fake speech within three weeks of opening account.
The panel then summoned Facebook India officials to explain their stance regarding the allegations of adopting a biased approach. The committee will hold its first meetings of the new session on November 16 and November 17 and the consent of the whistleblowers to depose before the committee is being sought
