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Facebook’s ties to India’s ruling party complicate its fight against hate speech

171 points by ashleshbiradar 6y ago

roenxi 6y ago
It is a strategically risky move for Facebook to take an active role in shaping India's political landscape. I imagine that the Indian population might object to American companies deciding what is and isn't appropriate to discuss.
- Barrin92 6y ago
  Inciting ethnic violence was one of the official reasons why TikTok was banned in the country, so surely nobody can object to applying the same Indian standards to Facebook communication, right? Not to mention India already has hate speech laws, so I don't see how Facebook enforcing them on their platform would be anyhting else than complying with... Indian law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_India
  - ra7 6y ago
    > Inciting ethnic violence was one of the official reasons why TikTok was banned in the country Source? Tiktok ban was a geopolitical play due to recent India-China tensions and the reason given was "national security". Here's the official press release: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1635206 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1635206
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    People incite ethnic violence regardless of the platform they use to spread their message. Hate speech laws in India just seem to be a convenient way for the government to crack down on websites and services it doesn’t like at arbitrary times.
- ashleshbiradar 6y ago
  Indian Population doesn't take digital world seriously, and majority have no digital literacy, so it is difficult for that to happen.
  - newen 6y ago
    Hard to take this comment seriously in a country where about 50% have access to the internet, very likely 100% of influential people have access to the internet, and very likely 100% of people are 1 degree of separation from someone who has access to the internet.
    - tsjq 6y ago
      I would interpret ashleshbiradar's point : >Indian Population doesn't take digital world seriously, as: Indian population do not think nor understand deeper, father enough to foresee these risks.
    - ffpip 6y ago
      They don't take it seriously. Just the fact that everybody is online doesn't mean they know how to navigate the internet. Many are there for porn, or shitty memes
      - newen 6y ago
        It’s not that different from any other country. Only a small fraction of people from any country cares about what’s actually going on in the intersection of politics and the internet.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  "I imagine that the Indian population might object to American companies..." Does the average Indian person even consciously reflect on Facebook being an American company? I get the impression that for so much of the developing world where Facebook/Whatsapp/Instagram are just about the only internet people know (because these sites don’t count against their mobile data, because they don’t even have e-mail and this is the only way they communicate with people, etc.), people don’t even think about where all this infrastructure comes from. It’s just “the internet”, and it exists with no particular origin or nationality like the air they breathe or the rain that falls from the sky.
  - actuator 6y ago
    I don't think this would be true just for developing world. Till the whole Tiktok-Trump thing started, did teens using Tiktok even knew where the owner was from. It has an English name, English language localization.
- edge17 6y ago
  This is true even for the American population
  - im3w1l 6y ago
    It's easier for Facebook to donate to "charities" that smears its enemies as on home turf.
- vkou 6y ago
  Facebook is no stranger to picking political winners and losers. In 2016, it seems to have bet the farm on a Trump victory (By being, and then continuing to be incredibly lax on enforcing its rules against his account.) It knows which side its bread is buttered, and is not going to rock the boat against a sitting president.
- actuator 6y ago
  FB's motivation at the end of day is money, they will cater to demands of any ruling org. For long time Zuck was doing trips to PRC to cozy up to CCP. I went through the article and while I don't rule out the possibility of ideological bias in an org, it seems that they are reaching for it a bit. Like the first instance itself that was mentioned in the article. > Facebook said in a statement to TIME. “We failed to remove upon initial review, which was a mistake on our part.” I am not a FB employee but if they have a two step process for removing some posts and say the second step in some cases is creating an issue on the ticketing system. By Occam's razor the simplest explanation can be easily that what FB is saying is the truth, in mid/big companies, issue trackers can easily be the places where things can go to die. I have personally seen issues being left unaddressed for years. It can happen, and if we pick selective instances to paint a story, it might not be the complete picture. Though as I mentioned earlier as well, they very well can have a bias if they have hired individuals with the same ideological background which is true for all types of orgs including old media houses.
  - commoner 6y ago
    There's more concrete evidence of Facebook's political bias in the Wall Street Journal report mentioned in the article. > Yet Mr. Singh, a member of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, is still active on Facebook and Instagram, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers. The company’s top public-policy executive in the country, Ankhi Das, opposed applying the hate-speech rules to Mr. Singh and at least three other Hindu nationalist individuals and groups flagged internally for promoting or participating in violence, said the current and former employees. > Ms. Das, whose job also includes lobbying India’s government on Facebook’s behalf, told staff members that punishing violations by politicians from Mr. Modi’s party would damage the company’s business prospects in the country, Facebook’s biggest global market by number of users, the current and former employees said. https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-hate-speech-india-politics-muslim-hindu-modi-zuckerberg-11597423346 https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-hate-speech-india-poli...
- dheera 6y ago
  I've always wondered why Facebook's role in the US elections is such a hotly debated topic but Facebook's role in the elections of all the other democracies in the world is not touched upon at all.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    Well, that's because news coverage and forums are very heavily biased towards reporting on the US. Even in non-US countries. There has been some discussion of the effects of Cambridge Analytica on the Brexit referendum and UK elections. However, in the UK, traditional media ownership and cronyism is more of a serious problem.
  - retrac 6y ago
    It's certainly a topic for discussion in the other democracies. Before COVID-19 sent everything haywire, Canada's parliament was holding sessions on the question of American electoral interference on social media. Once it's back on track, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's management have a good chance of having arrest warrants issued if they don't start actually testifying and cooperating.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - whoevercares 6y ago
    Most people hold double/triple standards
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  This is a specious argument. Facebook already takes an active role in shaping India's political landscape, via algorithmic promotion of posts.
- thewhitetulip 6y ago
  Indian population is brainwashed by the party with which FB sided How you ask? The media commonly called as Modi Media blames EVERYTHING on the opposing parties India is#1 in corona casesper day, who is to blame? Congress. Why? They are soreading fear! And now they've started using a suicide by a Film actor to stop corona news altogether. If you look at Hindi and English news they're focused on spreading conspiracies about a dead guy and his girlfriend like gf smoked drugs etc
  - pagan42 6y ago
    >Indian population is brainwashed by the party with which FB sided Just because the Indian population has realized what rubbish the Indian Congress party, it's affiliates were ( basically a KGB satellite) doesn't mean they are brainwashed. Just because Indian population doesn't like the game where all the money is for select few and rest are all poor ( communism) doesn't mean it's brainwashed. Just because Indian population doesn't reward the those who refuse to condemn the ethnic cleansing of pagans/non monotheists doesn't mean it's brainwashed. Just people you can label Indian population as brainwashed doesn't mean it is.
    - thewhitetulip 6y ago
      Name one quarter under Modi govt where GDP was above 9.9 I van quote 2 quarters under Congress when GDP was 10 Under Modiji unemployment is at a 45yr high! GDP is at a 5yr low and the economy is being driven underground and the new lows are beating the old lows with utter incompetence shown by the central govt. Also we are now the #1 country by new cases. We are the only Asian country where Corona is out of control If Congress was rubbish and we voted thes morons to power, I want rubbish congress back
- sbmthakur 6y ago
  Yes, and it doesn't go well. Twitter(India) was summoned by a parliamentary panel when a group accused them of being biased against right-wing accounts.
ffpip 6y ago
India is a very lucrative market for FB and other companies. 1 billion people, 2 billion eyes. No privacy laws, can easily share and sell data, govt is in the hands of Reliance (in which FB, Google and others are all investing a lot), most Indians are just getting used to the vast internet and are easily tricked.
- indogooner 6y ago
  Ideally they should have some morality to put basic human rights and safety above profits. Even from long term perspective if they continue to ignore hate speech against Islam on their platform I am sure they would lose a lot of users.
  - zozbot234 6y ago
    'Islam' is not a monolithic block, and we shouldn't represent it as such. Most hate speech against Muslims or varieties of Islam comes from Islamist fundamentalists and radicals themselves, not anyone with ties to any "ruling party" in India or in the Western world.
    - ashleshbiradar 6y ago
      Talking about Islamophobic hate content in the context of India, the current ruling party BJP which known for being a Hindu Nationalistic party, along with it's sister organizations "Sangh Parivar", have a history of spreading islamophobia.
      - warranty 6y ago
        Reporting you for astroturfing. Muslim mobs have burnt capital of India and that will not be tolerated.
      - throwawaysea 6y ago
        You can’t accuse them of Islamophobia or hate content when there’s a long history of Islamic terror attacks in India, attempts to illegally annex territory from India into an Islamic nation (Pakistan trying to claim Kashmir), recent history in splitting India to create separate Islamic nations (Pakistan and Bangladesh), not to mention further brutal history of Islamic (Mughal) conquest and rule. Why shouldn’t a party in India be Hindu nationalists and recognize the realities of Islam’s persistent threat to their way of life over hundreds of years? There’s no other space on the planet for Hindus other than India. Blind secularism is asking for a culture to disappear and be replaced by the homogeneous modern western culture, ultimately.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
Removing posts by elected officials is running really close to foreign interference in domestic affairs. Given the history of the East India Company, I am sure India is especially sensitive to foreign companies trying to influence or curtail the speech of their elected officials.
- smt88 6y ago
  > Removing posts by elected officials is running really close to foreign interference in domestic affairs. No, it's not. If anything, it's opting out of interfering in domestic affairs. Facebook is not an official channel. The elected official has many other platforms, including the country's media, that will publish their message. They can create a blog if they want. If Facebook is the only viable channel for reaching a large part of the electorate, the core issue is having only that one channel. You solve it by forcing competition, not by stifling Facebook's right to decide what they want to allow on their platform. I deeply loathe Facebook and think they're undermining democracy in every country, but there should never be a way for a government to force a publisher to distribute an ideology that the publisher disagrees with.
  - dominotw 6y ago
    > stifling Facebook's right to decide what they want to allow on their platform. Is indian govt really proposing this though? who is stifling their right?
    - smt88 6y ago
      The comment I was responding to seemed to be proposing it. I don't know about India, but in the US, there's been a major debate about whether govt can force platforms to retain posts and several attempted lawsuits over it.
      - dominotw 6y ago
        > The comment I was responding to seemed to be proposing it. I don't think so. comment wasn't merely presenting its take on things not proposing govt should force fb to do something.
throwawaymanbot 6y ago
Ah Yes Facebook... no other company works as hard to be friends with Authoritarian / Far Right political groups. Proud of you Zuck. </sarcasm>
pkphilip 6y ago
Facebook's actions in India are absolutely despicable. The head of policy at Facebook in India is a radicalized member of the Indian rightwing and recently put up a post stating that Muslims are a "degenerate community" and was forced to apologise just a couple of days ago because of pressure on FB from their employees. She gave a half hearted apology. Facebook should have immediately suspended her or sacked her: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/facebook-ankhi-das-anti-muslim-post_in_5f45de23c5b6cf66b2b02390 https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/facebook-ankhi-das-anti-... She and her sister (who is a politically connected to the ruling BJP party) have publicly been hobnobbing with the BJP and have actively been involved in propaganda. https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1294653379046596608 https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1294653379046596608 During the recent riots in Delhi where many died, the incitement of violence was by a member of the ruling party but has taken no action against Kapil Mishra's account which is still active: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=283365149510764 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=283365149510764 His account is still active and he still continues to try and make the Hindus fight the Muslims: https://www.facebook.com/youth4justice https://www.facebook.com/youth4justice
- ashleshbiradar 6y ago
  Whatsapp is also used extensively to share misinformation and hateful content, fueling mob violence and hate, especially targetting the minorities across the country. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/09/whatsapp/571276/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/09/whats... besides that, the ruling party actively uses whatsapp for political reasons, with it's infamous "It Cell" known for manufacturing fake news. https://theprint.in/politics/9500-it-cell-heads-72000-whatsapp-groups-how-bjp-is-preparing-for-bihar-poll-battle/451740/ https://theprint.in/politics/9500-it-cell-heads-72000-whatsa... So much so, that the current Home Minsiter of India, Amit Shah was seen in public bragging about the power of the IT Cell to "We can keep making messages go viral, whether they are real or fake, sweet or sour" https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/amit-shah-real-fake-can-make-messages-viral https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/amit-shah-real-fake-c...
  - envy2 6y ago
wtmt 6y ago
This can only be solved when more and more people understand the threats not just for the present, but for the future. What Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled are convenient and useful for those in power. So while there may probably be some words here and there, we can’t expect a lot of change on the ground. Disappointingly, the Indian Supreme Court is also lethargic and chooses to look at more trivial matters than give importance to things that could affect the freedom and political landscape for generations — examples are the Aadhaar petitions, cases against the electoral bonds and other matters not being heard for years. The court may actually find merit in holding this commenter in contempt for criticizing it, as if the judiciary is somehow sacred and beyond any criticism (anyone interested can search online for recent news on what the court is doing). The effect of “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is seen in many corners!
- luckylion 6y ago
  > What Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled are convenient and useful for those in power. I'm sure they are, but are they more useful than what was before? Facebook & Co have some random element, it's not a one-way-communication device like classic media (TV, radio, newspapers) are/were. The government has much less control over Facebook. You can't just go in and take it over like you could with a radio station, you can either use it and accept that others can as well, or you can block it in your country, but then you can't use it either.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - rbecker 6y ago
    > I'm sure they are, but are they more useful than what was before? [..] TV, radio, newspapers False dichotomy. Lets not skip over irc, xmpp, and all sorts of free, variously encrypted communication platforms that Facebook muscled out.
    - luckylion 6y ago
      But those were for individual communication, I understood the parent comment to mean mass media ("useful for those in power"). I don't think the powerful feature of Facebook is the messenger, it's the ability to rapidly disperse information through sharing. IRC & similar communication tools weren't made for that. WhatsApp is a hybrid, I suppose, but even there I think the share/forward feature is what drives the political usefulness, which is also why they're limiting that for some media, so you can't spread messages as easily (if it has been forwarded five times, you can only forward it individually, not to multiple contacts/chats, from what I understand).
CMGPwned 6y ago
"Shreya Singhal v. Union of India shields Twitter from any liability for failing to take down content unless a court order is passed asking it to do the same." source: https://internetfreedom.in/joint-letter-to-twitter-about-removal-of-prashant-bhushan-tweets/ https://internetfreedom.in/joint-letter-to-twitter-about-rem...
- rbecker 6y ago
  Those are better free speech protections than in Germany, where after a mere complaint (not court order) platforms are liable for up to 5 million euro if they fail to remove illegal posts within 7 days, and "obviously illegal" posts within 24 hours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act
tsjq 6y ago
Also, FB's proximity to the mega corporation that's known to be very friendly to the ruling party. FB's WhatsApp pay getting clearances / approvals soon after they made a large payment to Jio Platforms. Timeline: 26Nov2019: India puts WhatsApp's impending payments service on ice due to data localisation fracas. Both the security breach by Pegasus malware and WhatsApp's reluctance to adhere to India's data localisation norms have caused it to sit on the sidelines of one of the hottest digital payments markets in the world. [1] [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/india-puts-whatsapps-impending-payments-service-on-ice-due-to-data-localisation-fracas/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/india-puts-whatsapps-impending... 24Apr2020: Facebook is spending $5.7 billion to capitalize on India's internet boom. [2] [2] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/tech/facebook-india-reliance-jio/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/tech/facebook-india-relia... 08June2020: WhatsApp gets a raw deal from India in payments. WhatsApp needs a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India to throw open the switch. [3]. [3]https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-services-and-applications/whatsapp-gets-a-raw-deal-from-india-in-payments/76252903 https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-ser... 16June2020: WhatsApp launches payments service, 2 yrs after it began testing in India. [4] [4]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/whatsapp-launches-payments-service-2-yrs-after-it-began-testing-in-india/articleshow/76400100.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/whats... 03Aug WhatsApp a step closer to pay play. [5] [5]https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/whatsapp-a-step-closer-to-pay-play-11596419325500.html https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/whatsapp-a-step-cl... 04Aug2020: WhatsApp Pay has now met all data localisation rules, NPCI tells RBI [6] [6]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/whatsapp-pay-has-now-met-all-data-localisation-rules-npci-tells-rbi/articleshow/77343179.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/news... 05Aug2020: 'NPCI gave ICICI Bank go ahead for WhatsApp Pay in June', RBI informs SC [7] [7]https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-npci-approves-whatsapp-pay-rbi-supreme-court/ https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-npci-approves-whatsapp...
ashleshbiradar 6y ago
Here's a report by Equality Labs about Facebook India and Hate speech. https://www.equalitylabs.org/facebookindiareport https://www.equalitylabs.org/facebookindiareport
- srean 6y ago
  Thanks, that was quite eye opening. I myself have received and continue to receive many such on WA.
- jedimind 6y ago
  That's extremely disturbing how can they justify banning tik tok for inciting ethnic violence yet give facebook a free pass?
  - srean 6y ago
    Possibly because FB and WA have been toeing the party line (as it has been toeing the Trump line in the US). TikTok might have been less than sycophantic towards the ruling party here in India. It helps that one can use it to play to their gallery by appearing to stick it to China. There had been recent incursions by the Chinese well inside Indian borders. The ruling party has been trying to cover that up and needed some token resistance to showcase. Given the mutually cuddly relations between PM and Zuckerberg, the ban of TikTok is not really that surprising.
  - jariel 6y ago
    It's a geopolitical issue, probably not one of hate speech. India is not concerned about US Government spying on them, so much. All large Chinese companies have strong ties to the CCP (they have internal staffers who are party members, essentially acting as internal party oversight). Ergo, TT is definitely an organ of the state. It's just a matter of 'how much' in practicality. So TT gets the ban.
    - jariel 6y ago
      FYI to be more clear - the Chinese Communist Party has party officials placed within corporate organisations in order to maintain control, and to require businesses to adhere to CCP Policy. As of 2019 - 70% of Chinese business had 'CCP organs' placed within the company for oversight, and Xi wants to put it to at least 95% very soon. [1] From the Guardian: "Central Organisation Department, the party’s personnel body, found that 68% of China’s private companies had party bodies by 2016, and 70% of foreign enterprises. Although these figures sound high, they don’t match the targets the party has set for itself. In Xi’s old stamping ground of Zhejiang, for example, officials set a target in August 2018 to have cells inside 95% of private businesses." There is no ambiguity here: while the state may allow private enterprises to manage day-to-day affairs, all private businesses are subject to controls and scrutiny by the CCP - directly from agents within the company - so that they meet CCP objectives. Given that, all Chinese companies are de-facto CCP companies from the perspective of national security and strategic policy. The parallel would be Trump putting a 'special team' of CIA or Republicans inside every American company to ensure oversight of his agenda. This is very material to the nature of Social Media operations and global influence. Edit: which is why India et. al. are going to be much more concerned about TikTok than other apps and that the primary concern is not issues over speech. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/china-business-xi-jinping-communist-party-state-private-enterprise-huawei https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/china-business...
praveen9920 6y ago
Hate speech is very common in Indian social media. Also, This is not just a problem with Facebook India, Even Twitter India's heads have very close ties to India's ruling party.
- actuator 6y ago
  Are you sure about this? From what I gather the current ruling dispensation in India is opposite of left, and Jack Dorsey has stated in the past about Twitter having left leaning bias. [1] Might not translate to their India operations but I strongly doubt it wouldn't. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/19/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-admits-left-leaning-bias-says-it-doesnt-influence-company-policy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/19/twitter...
  - newen 6y ago
    BJP, India’s right wing party, has super majority seats in parliament and looks to be the only relevant party in the foreseeable future. So I think if they want to deal with India, they’d have to deal with BJP regardless of their political leanings.
dragonsh 6y ago
For failure of legislation, judiciary, administration, media in India to protect minority, Facebook is not the primary actor. Indeed minorities failed to get support from top courts in India where habeas corpus (the most fundamental basic right of Freedom in Indian constitution) litigations are pending for over 1 year and constantly being postponed, and the topmost court is busy prosecuting a lawyer with urgency for a tweet. His main offence is to use public interest litigation to help minorities, question govt and courts and bring to the front the tyranny of majoritarian politics of suppression. He is in cross-hairs of the current govt, so it’s one another way to silence him from questioning govt or courts for decisions. Agree that Facebook should act decisively to say no to things which incites violence and suppress the voice of minority. The least it can do is to remove people immediately in the company who appear in slightest to promote or ignore hate and violent information on platform resulting in loss of life. Here Facebook is duty bound to act internally within its company to make sure it’s staff are responsible for their actions. I don’t see any of this indeed the whole Facebook team in India who did it are promoted based on research in WSJ and this article. Getting cozy with richest man closer to right wing is just to secure profits and market at the expense of principles. Also right wing politics in India enjoys a substantial support, especially the Hitler style (reflected in many govt decisions). Facebook is just reflection of what’s in the society at present. Majority of the people are happy that a temple built will make India no. 1 in the world, talks and real actions on COVID-19 has become boring and not important as it inches towards no. 1 in the world for COVID-19 infections.
- eklavya 6y ago
  > Majority of the people are happy that a temple built will make India no. 1 in the world, talks and real actions on COVID-19 has become boring and not important as it inches towards no. 1 in the world for COVID-19 infections. I strongly object to your line of reasoning here. The “Hindu right wing extremists/nationalists” have been waiting for the temple to be built for about 500 years now. If those people including me are happy about it, what’s wrong with it? COVID-19 is definitely not turning out to be as deadly in India. When should we stop worrying about it? People in my family became positive while exercising highest caution and that didn’t seem to help. It must be pretty badly spread by now. It looks to me that merely exercising faith in Hinduism is right wing and extremist to a section, while they will close their eyes and shut their mouths about the burning of a city by the “oppressed minority”. If you object to it, you must hate the minority. If a section isn’t happy with the current govt for whatever reason doesn’t suddenly make the whole country “right wing” in the western sense. (I still can’t understand what it even means fo the current govt to be right wing but I am tired of debating that)
Animats 6y ago
Hate speech is a core part of political discourse today. It's no longer out of the mainstream. Expecting Facebook to deal with that is asking too much of a private company. Whom should Facebook muzzle? ISIL? Le Pen? Trump?
ican1 6y ago
How's sharing a news article on rape committed by Muslims count as hate speech? Killings by Hindu vigilante groups are reported and shared without considering hate speech against Hindus. Then why the double standard?
golemiprague 6y ago
Good, maybe they will all learn to stop deciding what is hate speech and what is not. Facebook is not my moral compass. At least the Indian government can be voted out if I don't like their hate speech rules, can someone vote out Zuckerberg? Companies should allow any speech as long as it is not against the law, I don't need their preaching or blocking or censoring or whatever, they are not above us all.
ican1 6y ago
There's a section in India who consider anything anti-Hindu and anti-India as free speech but anything anti-Muslim as hate speech. They want to muzzle any discussion of ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir, Pakistan, and Bangladesh by claiming it's hate speech. But they want to have complete freedom for claims denigrating India or Hinduism. E.g. Twitter was accused of censorship when it removed anti-India tweets.[1] I regularly see posts in Facebook denouncing Hindu gods and Hindus without anybody batting an eyelid. But if someone wants to discuss regressive Islamic practices like polygamy or halala marriage[2] (both of which remain legal in India) then they cry hate speech. "Free speech for me, not for thee." [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/twitter-accused-censoring-free-speech-kashmir-191030140205682.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/twitter-accused-censo... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikah_halala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikah_halala
node-bayarea 6y ago
The liberal Time magazine is at it again with its hit piece against independents and conservatives! Shut up Time magazine!
- dang 6y ago
  Would you please stop breaking the site guidelines like this? We've already asked you once recently. I don't want to ban you, but if you keep posting unsubstantive and/or political-battle-style comments, we're going to have to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
justicezyx 6y ago
Zuck tried to do the same with China, but for whatever reasons never disclosed, they seem did not reach an agreement for FB to enter China. I suspect, China asked something that might undermine Zuck's political ambition.
fareesh 6y ago
Is there a single thing that has been defeated by prohibition and censorship? This is a losing strategy
AmIDev 6y ago
You can see many comments here justifying anti-Muslim actions of the govt by whataboutery. Now imagine that happening at scale on whatsapp/Facebook and MSM. With most Indian family having access to smartphones, the amount of hatred and brainwashing that happens through this platform is unstoppable. Recently, Hindus were told not to buy from Muslim vendors, saying that Muslims are purposely spreading corona. Hindu sellers were provided with saffron flags for identification. Concentration camps are being built using the same people as workers, who would eventually end up in the camps. MSM openly spews anti-muslim venom during prime time. India is openly heading towards either a genocide or a civil war. One can try their best to un-brainwash people, but one can't do much against a paid online army of twitter/whatsapp/facebook users.

It is a strategically risky move for Facebook to take an active role in shaping India's political landscape. I imagine that the Indian population might object to American companies deciding what is and isn't appropriate to discuss.

Barrin92 6y ago
Inciting ethnic violence was one of the official reasons why TikTok was banned in the country, so surely nobody can object to applying the same Indian standards to Facebook communication, right? Not to mention India already has hate speech laws, so I don't see how Facebook enforcing them on their platform would be anyhting else than complying with... Indian law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_India
- ra7 6y ago
  > Inciting ethnic violence was one of the official reasons why TikTok was banned in the country Source? Tiktok ban was a geopolitical play due to recent India-China tensions and the reason given was "national security". Here's the official press release: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1635206 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1635206
- saagarjha 6y ago
  People incite ethnic violence regardless of the platform they use to spread their message. Hate speech laws in India just seem to be a convenient way for the government to crack down on websites and services it doesn’t like at arbitrary times.
ashleshbiradar 6y ago
Indian Population doesn't take digital world seriously, and majority have no digital literacy, so it is difficult for that to happen.
- newen 6y ago
  Hard to take this comment seriously in a country where about 50% have access to the internet, very likely 100% of influential people have access to the internet, and very likely 100% of people are 1 degree of separation from someone who has access to the internet.
  - tsjq 6y ago
    I would interpret ashleshbiradar's point : >Indian Population doesn't take digital world seriously, as: Indian population do not think nor understand deeper, father enough to foresee these risks.
  - ffpip 6y ago
    They don't take it seriously. Just the fact that everybody is online doesn't mean they know how to navigate the internet. Many are there for porn, or shitty memes
    - newen 6y ago
      It’s not that different from any other country. Only a small fraction of people from any country cares about what’s actually going on in the intersection of politics and the internet.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
"I imagine that the Indian population might object to American companies..." Does the average Indian person even consciously reflect on Facebook being an American company? I get the impression that for so much of the developing world where Facebook/Whatsapp/Instagram are just about the only internet people know (because these sites don’t count against their mobile data, because they don’t even have e-mail and this is the only way they communicate with people, etc.), people don’t even think about where all this infrastructure comes from. It’s just “the internet”, and it exists with no particular origin or nationality like the air they breathe or the rain that falls from the sky.
- actuator 6y ago
  I don't think this would be true just for developing world. Till the whole Tiktok-Trump thing started, did teens using Tiktok even knew where the owner was from. It has an English name, English language localization.
edge17 6y ago
This is true even for the American population
- im3w1l 6y ago
  It's easier for Facebook to donate to "charities" that smears its enemies as on home turf.
vkou 6y ago
Facebook is no stranger to picking political winners and losers. In 2016, it seems to have bet the farm on a Trump victory (By being, and then continuing to be incredibly lax on enforcing its rules against his account.) It knows which side its bread is buttered, and is not going to rock the boat against a sitting president.
actuator 6y ago
FB's motivation at the end of day is money, they will cater to demands of any ruling org. For long time Zuck was doing trips to PRC to cozy up to CCP. I went through the article and while I don't rule out the possibility of ideological bias in an org, it seems that they are reaching for it a bit. Like the first instance itself that was mentioned in the article. > Facebook said in a statement to TIME. “We failed to remove upon initial review, which was a mistake on our part.” I am not a FB employee but if they have a two step process for removing some posts and say the second step in some cases is creating an issue on the ticketing system. By Occam's razor the simplest explanation can be easily that what FB is saying is the truth, in mid/big companies, issue trackers can easily be the places where things can go to die. I have personally seen issues being left unaddressed for years. It can happen, and if we pick selective instances to paint a story, it might not be the complete picture. Though as I mentioned earlier as well, they very well can have a bias if they have hired individuals with the same ideological background which is true for all types of orgs including old media houses.
- commoner 6y ago
  There's more concrete evidence of Facebook's political bias in the Wall Street Journal report mentioned in the article. > Yet Mr. Singh, a member of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, is still active on Facebook and Instagram, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers. The company’s top public-policy executive in the country, Ankhi Das, opposed applying the hate-speech rules to Mr. Singh and at least three other Hindu nationalist individuals and groups flagged internally for promoting or participating in violence, said the current and former employees. > Ms. Das, whose job also includes lobbying India’s government on Facebook’s behalf, told staff members that punishing violations by politicians from Mr. Modi’s party would damage the company’s business prospects in the country, Facebook’s biggest global market by number of users, the current and former employees said. https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-hate-speech-india-politics-muslim-hindu-modi-zuckerberg-11597423346 https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-hate-speech-india-poli...
dheera 6y ago
I've always wondered why Facebook's role in the US elections is such a hotly debated topic but Facebook's role in the elections of all the other democracies in the world is not touched upon at all.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Well, that's because news coverage and forums are very heavily biased towards reporting on the US. Even in non-US countries. There has been some discussion of the effects of Cambridge Analytica on the Brexit referendum and UK elections. However, in the UK, traditional media ownership and cronyism is more of a serious problem.
- retrac 6y ago
  It's certainly a topic for discussion in the other democracies. Before COVID-19 sent everything haywire, Canada's parliament was holding sessions on the question of American electoral interference on social media. Once it's back on track, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's management have a good chance of having arrest warrants issued if they don't start actually testifying and cooperating.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- whoevercares 6y ago
  Most people hold double/triple standards
jakelazaroff 6y ago
This is a specious argument. Facebook already takes an active role in shaping India's political landscape, via algorithmic promotion of posts.
thewhitetulip 6y ago
Indian population is brainwashed by the party with which FB sided How you ask? The media commonly called as Modi Media blames EVERYTHING on the opposing parties India is#1 in corona casesper day, who is to blame? Congress. Why? They are soreading fear! And now they've started using a suicide by a Film actor to stop corona news altogether. If you look at Hindi and English news they're focused on spreading conspiracies about a dead guy and his girlfriend like gf smoked drugs etc
- pagan42 6y ago
  >Indian population is brainwashed by the party with which FB sided Just because the Indian population has realized what rubbish the Indian Congress party, it's affiliates were ( basically a KGB satellite) doesn't mean they are brainwashed. Just because Indian population doesn't like the game where all the money is for select few and rest are all poor ( communism) doesn't mean it's brainwashed. Just because Indian population doesn't reward the those who refuse to condemn the ethnic cleansing of pagans/non monotheists doesn't mean it's brainwashed. Just people you can label Indian population as brainwashed doesn't mean it is.
  - thewhitetulip 6y ago
    Name one quarter under Modi govt where GDP was above 9.9 I van quote 2 quarters under Congress when GDP was 10 Under Modiji unemployment is at a 45yr high! GDP is at a 5yr low and the economy is being driven underground and the new lows are beating the old lows with utter incompetence shown by the central govt. Also we are now the #1 country by new cases. We are the only Asian country where Corona is out of control If Congress was rubbish and we voted thes morons to power, I want rubbish congress back
sbmthakur 6y ago
Yes, and it doesn't go well. Twitter(India) was summoned by a parliamentary panel when a group accused them of being biased against right-wing accounts.

ffpip 6y ago

India is a very lucrative market for FB and other companies. 1 billion people, 2 billion eyes. No privacy laws, can easily share and sell data, govt is in the hands of Reliance (in which FB, Google and others are all investing a lot), most Indians are just getting used to the vast internet and are easily tricked.

indogooner 6y ago
Ideally they should have some morality to put basic human rights and safety above profits. Even from long term perspective if they continue to ignore hate speech against Islam on their platform I am sure they would lose a lot of users.
- zozbot234 6y ago
  'Islam' is not a monolithic block, and we shouldn't represent it as such. Most hate speech against Muslims or varieties of Islam comes from Islamist fundamentalists and radicals themselves, not anyone with ties to any "ruling party" in India or in the Western world.
  - ashleshbiradar 6y ago
    Talking about Islamophobic hate content in the context of India, the current ruling party BJP which known for being a Hindu Nationalistic party, along with it's sister organizations "Sangh Parivar", have a history of spreading islamophobia.
    - warranty 6y ago
      Reporting you for astroturfing. Muslim mobs have burnt capital of India and that will not be tolerated.
    - throwawaysea 6y ago
      You can’t accuse them of Islamophobia or hate content when there’s a long history of Islamic terror attacks in India, attempts to illegally annex territory from India into an Islamic nation (Pakistan trying to claim Kashmir), recent history in splitting India to create separate Islamic nations (Pakistan and Bangladesh), not to mention further brutal history of Islamic (Mughal) conquest and rule. Why shouldn’t a party in India be Hindu nationalists and recognize the realities of Islam’s persistent threat to their way of life over hundreds of years? There’s no other space on the planet for Hindus other than India. Blind secularism is asking for a culture to disappear and be replaced by the homogeneous modern western culture, ultimately.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago

Removing posts by elected officials is running really close to foreign interference in domestic affairs. Given the history of the East India Company, I am sure India is especially sensitive to foreign companies trying to influence or curtail the speech of their elected officials.

smt88 6y ago
> Removing posts by elected officials is running really close to foreign interference in domestic affairs. No, it's not. If anything, it's opting out of interfering in domestic affairs. Facebook is not an official channel. The elected official has many other platforms, including the country's media, that will publish their message. They can create a blog if they want. If Facebook is the only viable channel for reaching a large part of the electorate, the core issue is having only that one channel. You solve it by forcing competition, not by stifling Facebook's right to decide what they want to allow on their platform. I deeply loathe Facebook and think they're undermining democracy in every country, but there should never be a way for a government to force a publisher to distribute an ideology that the publisher disagrees with.
- dominotw 6y ago
  > stifling Facebook's right to decide what they want to allow on their platform. Is indian govt really proposing this though? who is stifling their right?
  - smt88 6y ago
    The comment I was responding to seemed to be proposing it. I don't know about India, but in the US, there's been a major debate about whether govt can force platforms to retain posts and several attempted lawsuits over it.
    - dominotw 6y ago
      > The comment I was responding to seemed to be proposing it. I don't think so. comment wasn't merely presenting its take on things not proposing govt should force fb to do something.

throwawaymanbot 6y ago

Ah Yes Facebook... no other company works as hard to be friends with Authoritarian / Far Right political groups. Proud of you Zuck. </sarcasm>

pkphilip 6y ago

Facebook's actions in India are absolutely despicable. The head of policy at Facebook in India is a radicalized member of the Indian rightwing and recently put up a post stating that Muslims are a "degenerate community" and was forced to apologise just a couple of days ago because of pressure on FB from their employees. She gave a half hearted apology. Facebook should have immediately suspended her or sacked her: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/facebook-ankhi-das-anti-muslim-post_in_5f45de23c5b6cf66b2b02390 https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/facebook-ankhi-das-anti-... She and her sister (who is a politically connected to the ruling BJP party) have publicly been hobnobbing with the BJP and have actively been involved in propaganda. https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1294653379046596608 https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1294653379046596608 During the recent riots in Delhi where many died, the incitement of violence was by a member of the ruling party but has taken no action against Kapil Mishra's account which is still active: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=283365149510764 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=283365149510764 His account is still active and he still continues to try and make the Hindus fight the Muslims: https://www.facebook.com/youth4justice https://www.facebook.com/youth4justice

ashleshbiradar 6y ago
Whatsapp is also used extensively to share misinformation and hateful content, fueling mob violence and hate, especially targetting the minorities across the country. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/09/whatsapp/571276/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/09/whats... besides that, the ruling party actively uses whatsapp for political reasons, with it's infamous "It Cell" known for manufacturing fake news. https://theprint.in/politics/9500-it-cell-heads-72000-whatsapp-groups-how-bjp-is-preparing-for-bihar-poll-battle/451740/ https://theprint.in/politics/9500-it-cell-heads-72000-whatsa... So much so, that the current Home Minsiter of India, Amit Shah was seen in public bragging about the power of the IT Cell to "We can keep making messages go viral, whether they are real or fake, sweet or sour" https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/amit-shah-real-fake-can-make-messages-viral https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/amit-shah-real-fake-c...
- envy2 6y ago

wtmt 6y ago

This can only be solved when more and more people understand the threats not just for the present, but for the future. What Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled are convenient and useful for those in power. So while there may probably be some words here and there, we can’t expect a lot of change on the ground. Disappointingly, the Indian Supreme Court is also lethargic and chooses to look at more trivial matters than give importance to things that could affect the freedom and political landscape for generations — examples are the Aadhaar petitions, cases against the electoral bonds and other matters not being heard for years. The court may actually find merit in holding this commenter in contempt for criticizing it, as if the judiciary is somehow sacred and beyond any criticism (anyone interested can search online for recent news on what the court is doing). The effect of “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is seen in many corners!

luckylion 6y ago
> What Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled are convenient and useful for those in power. I'm sure they are, but are they more useful than what was before? Facebook & Co have some random element, it's not a one-way-communication device like classic media (TV, radio, newspapers) are/were. The government has much less control over Facebook. You can't just go in and take it over like you could with a radio station, you can either use it and accept that others can as well, or you can block it in your country, but then you can't use it either.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- rbecker 6y ago
  > I'm sure they are, but are they more useful than what was before? [..] TV, radio, newspapers False dichotomy. Lets not skip over irc, xmpp, and all sorts of free, variously encrypted communication platforms that Facebook muscled out.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    But those were for individual communication, I understood the parent comment to mean mass media ("useful for those in power"). I don't think the powerful feature of Facebook is the messenger, it's the ability to rapidly disperse information through sharing. IRC & similar communication tools weren't made for that. WhatsApp is a hybrid, I suppose, but even there I think the share/forward feature is what drives the political usefulness, which is also why they're limiting that for some media, so you can't spread messages as easily (if it has been forwarded five times, you can only forward it individually, not to multiple contacts/chats, from what I understand).

CMGPwned 6y ago

"Shreya Singhal v. Union of India shields Twitter from any liability for failing to take down content unless a court order is passed asking it to do the same." source: https://internetfreedom.in/joint-letter-to-twitter-about-removal-of-prashant-bhushan-tweets/ https://internetfreedom.in/joint-letter-to-twitter-about-rem...

rbecker 6y ago
Those are better free speech protections than in Germany, where after a mere complaint (not court order) platforms are liable for up to 5 million euro if they fail to remove illegal posts within 7 days, and "obviously illegal" posts within 24 hours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Enforcement_Act

tsjq 6y ago

Also, FB's proximity to the mega corporation that's known to be very friendly to the ruling party. FB's WhatsApp pay getting clearances / approvals soon after they made a large payment to Jio Platforms. Timeline: 26Nov2019: India puts WhatsApp's impending payments service on ice due to data localisation fracas. Both the security breach by Pegasus malware and WhatsApp's reluctance to adhere to India's data localisation norms have caused it to sit on the sidelines of one of the hottest digital payments markets in the world. [1] [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/india-puts-whatsapps-impending-payments-service-on-ice-due-to-data-localisation-fracas/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/india-puts-whatsapps-impending... 24Apr2020: Facebook is spending $5.7 billion to capitalize on India's internet boom. [2] [2] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/tech/facebook-india-reliance-jio/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/tech/facebook-india-relia... 08June2020: WhatsApp gets a raw deal from India in payments. WhatsApp needs a nod from the National Payments Corporation of India to throw open the switch. [3]. [3]https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-services-and-applications/whatsapp-gets-a-raw-deal-from-india-in-payments/76252903 https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-ser... 16June2020: WhatsApp launches payments service, 2 yrs after it began testing in India. [4] [4]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/whatsapp-launches-payments-service-2-yrs-after-it-began-testing-in-india/articleshow/76400100.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/whats... 03Aug WhatsApp a step closer to pay play. [5] [5]https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/whatsapp-a-step-closer-to-pay-play-11596419325500.html https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/whatsapp-a-step-cl... 04Aug2020: WhatsApp Pay has now met all data localisation rules, NPCI tells RBI [6] [6]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/whatsapp-pay-has-now-met-all-data-localisation-rules-npci-tells-rbi/articleshow/77343179.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/news... 05Aug2020: 'NPCI gave ICICI Bank go ahead for WhatsApp Pay in June', RBI informs SC [7] [7]https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-npci-approves-whatsapp-pay-rbi-supreme-court/ https://www.medianama.com/2020/08/223-npci-approves-whatsapp...

ashleshbiradar 6y ago

Here's a report by Equality Labs about Facebook India and Hate speech. https://www.equalitylabs.org/facebookindiareport https://www.equalitylabs.org/facebookindiareport

srean 6y ago
Thanks, that was quite eye opening. I myself have received and continue to receive many such on WA.
jedimind 6y ago
That's extremely disturbing how can they justify banning tik tok for inciting ethnic violence yet give facebook a free pass?
- srean 6y ago
  Possibly because FB and WA have been toeing the party line (as it has been toeing the Trump line in the US). TikTok might have been less than sycophantic towards the ruling party here in India. It helps that one can use it to play to their gallery by appearing to stick it to China. There had been recent incursions by the Chinese well inside Indian borders. The ruling party has been trying to cover that up and needed some token resistance to showcase. Given the mutually cuddly relations between PM and Zuckerberg, the ban of TikTok is not really that surprising.
- jariel 6y ago
  It's a geopolitical issue, probably not one of hate speech. India is not concerned about US Government spying on them, so much. All large Chinese companies have strong ties to the CCP (they have internal staffers who are party members, essentially acting as internal party oversight). Ergo, TT is definitely an organ of the state. It's just a matter of 'how much' in practicality. So TT gets the ban.
  - jariel 6y ago
    FYI to be more clear - the Chinese Communist Party has party officials placed within corporate organisations in order to maintain control, and to require businesses to adhere to CCP Policy. As of 2019 - 70% of Chinese business had 'CCP organs' placed within the company for oversight, and Xi wants to put it to at least 95% very soon. [1] From the Guardian: "Central Organisation Department, the party’s personnel body, found that 68% of China’s private companies had party bodies by 2016, and 70% of foreign enterprises. Although these figures sound high, they don’t match the targets the party has set for itself. In Xi’s old stamping ground of Zhejiang, for example, officials set a target in August 2018 to have cells inside 95% of private businesses." There is no ambiguity here: while the state may allow private enterprises to manage day-to-day affairs, all private businesses are subject to controls and scrutiny by the CCP - directly from agents within the company - so that they meet CCP objectives. Given that, all Chinese companies are de-facto CCP companies from the perspective of national security and strategic policy. The parallel would be Trump putting a 'special team' of CIA or Republicans inside every American company to ensure oversight of his agenda. This is very material to the nature of Social Media operations and global influence. Edit: which is why India et. al. are going to be much more concerned about TikTok than other apps and that the primary concern is not issues over speech. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/china-business-xi-jinping-communist-party-state-private-enterprise-huawei https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/china-business...

praveen9920 6y ago

Hate speech is very common in Indian social media. Also, This is not just a problem with Facebook India, Even Twitter India's heads have very close ties to India's ruling party.

actuator 6y ago
Are you sure about this? From what I gather the current ruling dispensation in India is opposite of left, and Jack Dorsey has stated in the past about Twitter having left leaning bias. [1] Might not translate to their India operations but I strongly doubt it wouldn't. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/19/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-admits-left-leaning-bias-says-it-doesnt-influence-company-policy/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/19/twitter...
- newen 6y ago
  BJP, India’s right wing party, has super majority seats in parliament and looks to be the only relevant party in the foreseeable future. So I think if they want to deal with India, they’d have to deal with BJP regardless of their political leanings.

dragonsh 6y ago

For failure of legislation, judiciary, administration, media in India to protect minority, Facebook is not the primary actor. Indeed minorities failed to get support from top courts in India where habeas corpus (the most fundamental basic right of Freedom in Indian constitution) litigations are pending for over 1 year and constantly being postponed, and the topmost court is busy prosecuting a lawyer with urgency for a tweet. His main offence is to use public interest litigation to help minorities, question govt and courts and bring to the front the tyranny of majoritarian politics of suppression. He is in cross-hairs of the current govt, so it’s one another way to silence him from questioning govt or courts for decisions. Agree that Facebook should act decisively to say no to things which incites violence and suppress the voice of minority. The least it can do is to remove people immediately in the company who appear in slightest to promote or ignore hate and violent information on platform resulting in loss of life. Here Facebook is duty bound to act internally within its company to make sure it’s staff are responsible for their actions. I don’t see any of this indeed the whole Facebook team in India who did it are promoted based on research in WSJ and this article. Getting cozy with richest man closer to right wing is just to secure profits and market at the expense of principles. Also right wing politics in India enjoys a substantial support, especially the Hitler style (reflected in many govt decisions). Facebook is just reflection of what’s in the society at present. Majority of the people are happy that a temple built will make India no. 1 in the world, talks and real actions on COVID-19 has become boring and not important as it inches towards no. 1 in the world for COVID-19 infections.

eklavya 6y ago
> Majority of the people are happy that a temple built will make India no. 1 in the world, talks and real actions on COVID-19 has become boring and not important as it inches towards no. 1 in the world for COVID-19 infections. I strongly object to your line of reasoning here. The “Hindu right wing extremists/nationalists” have been waiting for the temple to be built for about 500 years now. If those people including me are happy about it, what’s wrong with it? COVID-19 is definitely not turning out to be as deadly in India. When should we stop worrying about it? People in my family became positive while exercising highest caution and that didn’t seem to help. It must be pretty badly spread by now. It looks to me that merely exercising faith in Hinduism is right wing and extremist to a section, while they will close their eyes and shut their mouths about the burning of a city by the “oppressed minority”. If you object to it, you must hate the minority. If a section isn’t happy with the current govt for whatever reason doesn’t suddenly make the whole country “right wing” in the western sense. (I still can’t understand what it even means fo the current govt to be right wing but I am tired of debating that)

Animats 6y ago

Hate speech is a core part of political discourse today. It's no longer out of the mainstream. Expecting Facebook to deal with that is asking too much of a private company. Whom should Facebook muzzle? ISIL? Le Pen? Trump?

ican1 6y ago

How's sharing a news article on rape committed by Muslims count as hate speech? Killings by Hindu vigilante groups are reported and shared without considering hate speech against Hindus. Then why the double standard?

golemiprague 6y ago

Good, maybe they will all learn to stop deciding what is hate speech and what is not. Facebook is not my moral compass. At least the Indian government can be voted out if I don't like their hate speech rules, can someone vote out Zuckerberg? Companies should allow any speech as long as it is not against the law, I don't need their preaching or blocking or censoring or whatever, they are not above us all.

ican1 6y ago

There's a section in India who consider anything anti-Hindu and anti-India as free speech but anything anti-Muslim as hate speech. They want to muzzle any discussion of ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir, Pakistan, and Bangladesh by claiming it's hate speech. But they want to have complete freedom for claims denigrating India or Hinduism. E.g. Twitter was accused of censorship when it removed anti-India tweets.[1] I regularly see posts in Facebook denouncing Hindu gods and Hindus without anybody batting an eyelid. But if someone wants to discuss regressive Islamic practices like polygamy or halala marriage[2] (both of which remain legal in India) then they cry hate speech. "Free speech for me, not for thee." [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/twitter-accused-censoring-free-speech-kashmir-191030140205682.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/twitter-accused-censo... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikah_halala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikah_halala

node-bayarea 6y ago

The liberal Time magazine is at it again with its hit piece against independents and conservatives! Shut up Time magazine!

dang 6y ago
Would you please stop breaking the site guidelines like this? We've already asked you once recently. I don't want to ban you, but if you keep posting unsubstantive and/or political-battle-style comments, we're going to have to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

justicezyx 6y ago

Zuck tried to do the same with China, but for whatever reasons never disclosed, they seem did not reach an agreement for FB to enter China. I suspect, China asked something that might undermine Zuck's political ambition.

fareesh 6y ago

Is there a single thing that has been defeated by prohibition and censorship? This is a losing strategy

AmIDev 6y ago

You can see many comments here justifying anti-Muslim actions of the govt by whataboutery. Now imagine that happening at scale on whatsapp/Facebook and MSM. With most Indian family having access to smartphones, the amount of hatred and brainwashing that happens through this platform is unstoppable. Recently, Hindus were told not to buy from Muslim vendors, saying that Muslims are purposely spreading corona. Hindu sellers were provided with saffron flags for identification. Concentration camps are being built using the same people as workers, who would eventually end up in the camps. MSM openly spews anti-muslim venom during prime time. India is openly heading towards either a genocide or a civil war. One can try their best to un-brainwash people, but one can't do much against a paid online army of twitter/whatsapp/facebook users.