I.N.D.I.A bloc writes to Facebook, Google CEOs, demands platforms' neutrality during polls

I.N.D.I.A parties have shot off letters to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai protesting against BJP’s "vile, communally divisive propaganda" on Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube and warned that they "will not take lightly" the "blatant partisanship and bias" towards one political dispensation that "tantamounts" to interfering in India's democracy by private foreign companies.

In separate letters, the parties highlighted recent reports in The Washington Post on Meta companies WhatsApp and Facebook "aiding the communal hatred campaign of the ruling BJP" and Google's YouTube "propagating communal hatred and dividing Indian society."

The letter to Pichai said it was "very clear from the exhaustive investigation" by the newspaper that Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and specifically YouTube is "culpable of abetting social disharmony and inciting communal hatred in India".

"Further we have data that shows algorithmic moderation and suppression of Opposition leaders' content on your platform while also promoting ruling party content," it said. Similar charges were made against Facebook and WhatsApp in the letter to Zuckerberg.

"Such blatant partisanship and bias towards one political formation by a private foreign company is tantamount to interfering in India's democracy, one that we in the I.N.D.I.A alliance will not take lightly," the letters signed by Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal on behalf of the bloc said.

With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024 in mind, the bloc also made an "earnest and urgent plea" to the companies to consider these facts "seriously and ensure" immediately that their operations in India "remain neutral" and are "not used wittingly or unwittingly to cause social unrest or distort" India's much "cherished" democratic ideals.

"It is ironic that we are writing this letter on the birth month anniversary of the greatest champion of non-violence and social harmony in history, Mahatma Gandhi," it said in the letters expressing confidence that the platforms yearn for a harmonious India that the Mahatma wished for.

The letter noted that it is being sent on behalf of 14 Opposition leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Hemant Soren (JMM), T R Baalu (DMK), Rajiv Ranjan 'Lalan' Singh (JD-U), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Derek O'Brien (Trinamool Congress), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP).