Delhi panel summons top FB official Ajit Mohan over hate speech allegations

A Delhi Assembly panel has issued a notice to Facebook India vice president and managing director Ajit Mohan asking him to appear before it on September 15 in connection with complaints about the social media platform’s alleged deliberate and intentional inaction to contain hateful content in the country.

“Summon was issued on the basis of scathing depositions of the key witnesses as well as incriminating material submitted by them on record,” an official statement noted on Saturday (September 12).

The panel has reportedly summoned Mohan for alleged “complicity of Facebook in the orchestration and aggravation of Delhi riots”. “Having regards to the compelling evidences brought forth by the witnesses, the committee is of the belief that Facebook should be impleaded as co-accused in the Delhi Riots investigation,” the official statement read, adding that the proceedings, which will commence at 12 pm, will be live-streamed.

The panel further said it has already questioned numerous witnesses, including journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Kunal Purohit, Nikhil Pahwa – an author, and activist Awesh Tiwari, according to NDTV.

The summon by the Delhi Assembly panel on peace and harmony follows a recent Wall Street Journal report which claimed that one of Facebook’s senior India policy executives intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker from Telangana after he allegedly shared communally charged posts.

“We hereby summon you (Ajit Mohan) to appear before the committee on September 15, 2020 at 12 Noon at MLA Lounge-1, Delhi Vidhan Sabha, for the purpose of recording your deposition on oath and participating in the proceedings carried out by the committee,” Delhi Assembly’s deputy secretary said in the notice sent on September 10.

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Earlier, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology headed by Congress’s Shashi Tharoor grilled Ajit Mohan for more than three hours over similar hate speech allegations.

Last month, Facebook had said its social media platform prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence and these policies are enforced globally without regard to political affiliation.

“We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation.

“While we know there is more to do, were making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy,” a Facebook spokesperson had said.

(With inputs from agencies)