Facebook India chief Ajit Mohan skips hate speech hearing
Facebook India’s chief didn't appear Tuesday before a panel probing allegations that the social media giant failed to take action against hate speech, the committee’s head said.
India may be the US-based enterprise and its messaging support WhatsApp’s biggest market regarding users, and the organization is under great pressure worldwide more than the policing of hate speech.
The other day, a Delhi Assembly panel in peace and harmony had summoned Ajit Mohan, managing director of Facebook India, to determine if the social media site deliberately ignored instances of hate speech in its social media program.
The panel, headed by Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Raghav Chadha, also said the firm ought to be probed over its “alleged role and complicity” in the sectarian Delhi riots in February which killed over 50 people, almost all of them Muslims.
But on Tuesday Mohan didn't appear, Chadha said.
“The failure of Facebook to seem before the committee implies that it is trying to cover up its role in the Delhi riots,” Chadha told reporters.
“Fresh summons will come to be issued to it consistent with principles of herbal justice.”
A lawyer for Facebook said the summons was “untenable” as the problem had been heard separately by a parliamentary committee, a Delhi government resource told AFP.
Facebook India was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Previously this month, the 18-member parliamentary committee had “grilled” Facebook representatives over the platform’s alleged political bias, local press reported.
The firm has been embroiled in an enormous row in India following the Wall Road Journal reported in August that the company failed to take down anti-Muslim comments by a politician from the ruling party to be able to protect its business interests.
Facebook features denied any political bias but admitted it must do easier to curb hate speeches.
