BJP MP serves privilege notice on Tharoor on FB row

BJP leader and Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday (August 19) gave a notice for breach of privilege against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor after later had said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would like to hear from Facebook about a media report on its conduct, Indian Express reported.

Dubey, who is a member of the standing committee, was quoted as saying, “Tharoor had surpassed all limits of decency, ethics and basic tenets of Parliamentary procedures and practices” by sending a notice to Facebook. Dubey, who sent the notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, sought a privilege motion be initiated against Tharoor.

A Twitter duel had erupted between Dubey and Opposition MPs Tharoor and Mahua Moitra (TMC) over the prospect of the panel seeking views of Facebook on the Wall Street Journal report. It cited interviews with unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana after he allegedly made communally charged posts.

Reacting to the controversy, Facebook had said the company’s social media platform prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence, adding these policies are enforced globally without regard to political affiliation. “While we know there is more to do, we”re making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

(With inputs from agencies)