New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc has written to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai over their social media platforms’ alleged role in “aiding communal hatred” in the country and demanded that the platforms maintain neutrality in the upcoming elections.
The letters came after the Washington Post newspaper flagged alleged bias of Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube towards the ruling BJP and the Narendra Modi dispensation.
Sharing the letter to Zuckerberg on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, ‘Letter by INDIA parties to Facebook’s Mr. Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) citing the exhaustive investigations by the Washington Post that Meta is culpable of abetting social disharmony and inciting communal hatred in India.’ ‘INDIA parties also write to Google’s Mr. Sundar Pichai on exhaustive investigation by the Washington Post that Alphabet and specifically YouTube is culpable of abetting social disharmony and inciting communal hatred in India,’ he said in another post while sharing the letter to Pichai.
In the letter to Zuckerberg, the opposition parties have said that the India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is an alliance of 28 political parties in India that represent the combined opposition coalition and are the ruling alliance in 11 states and represent nearly half of all Indian voters.
‘You may be aware of the recent exposes by the Washington Post newspaper about the role of WhatsApp and Facebook in aiding the communal hatred campaign of the ruling BJP. Specifically, the article cites details of how this vile, communally divisive propaganda is carried out using WhatsApp groups by BJP members and supporters.’
‘In another article titled ‘Under India’s pressure, Facebook let propaganda and hate speech thrive’, the Post has elucidated with evidence the
blatant partisanship by Facebook India executives towards the ruling dispensation. This was well known to us in the Opposition for a long time and have even raised it several times in the past,’ the INDIA bloc parties said. They said that it was ironical that the parties had to write the letter in the birth anniversary month of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest champion of non-violence and social harmony in history.