new delhi: As the Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee seems to be cornering Facebook India head, Ajit Mohan, to appear before it, the executive has insisted that the platform has remained true to its design of being neutral and non-partisan and that it has acted based on inputs from various teams.
In an interview with a wire service, Mohan rejected charges of Facebook India's decisions being influenced by political leanings of individuals, saying the process followed at the platform is designed to ensure no one person can influence outcomes, let alone take any unilateral decisions.
"The content policy of team that is at the centre of all the enforcement decisions (on hate speeches) is separate and independent in India from the public policy team (that handles government relations)," he said. "It's designed for independence."
The controversy that started with a Wall Street Journal raising serious questions on the platform's content regulation rules or the lack of them in case of members of or closely associated with the ruling dispensation had also led to serious questions about the political views of Facebook India's public policy head Ankhi Das and her purported influence in enforcing content regulation rules. Now, a Delhi Assembly panel is looking into Facebook's role in the north-east Delhi riots this
February.
Individuals can have "points of views" or "leanings", the "system is designed to make sure no one person can influence the outcomes," he said. Mohan insisted the content moderation is largely done through automated systems and human reviewers. In dealing with complex issues such as designating individuals, especially elected officials, the content policy team comes into play.
"The public policy team does seek inputs from multiple functions and disciplines and teams including public policy team in India. That is not interference. That is the process that is being designed to have enough local context from the local team," he said. "But finally the decision that is taken is not taken by the public policy team."