Take serious efforts to audit implementation of Facebook's hate speech policy in India, ex-bureaucrats tell Zuckerberg

Over 50 former bureaucrats, including Wajahat Habibullah, Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander, on Monday, shot off an open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg asking him to make “serious efforts” to audit the implementation of the social media giant’s hate speech policy in India.

Accusing Facebook of failing to implement its own policy of discouraging hate speech in India or has implemented it in a clearly “partisan manner”, the former civil servants also demanded that Zuckerberg should ensure that Facebook’s Public Policy Head Ankhi Das is not in a position to influence the process.

The letter came against the backdrop of a report in the Wall Street Journal, which said Facebook turned its face against hate posts by at least four Hindutva supporters with Das pointing out that taking action against those who are with the ruling BJP would have a detrimental effect on their business interests in the country.

They said this has been done to protect its commercial interests which is “even more reprehensible... Commercial interests at the cost of human lives?”

“We fervently hope that in future, you will not let your company’s business prospects stand in the way of implementing your own policy against hate speech and posts which can lead to hate crimes. This is a sure way of demonising minorities and inflicting violence upon them while undermining the democratic and secular basis of the Indian Constitution,” the letter said.

The 54 ex-bureaucrats, who signed the letter that also included Vappala Balachandran and Julio Ribeiro, said they have written to the government and government institutions whenever they felt the democratic rights of the citizens were being violated and it was for the first time they were writing to a non-Indian body.

They said they were writing to Zuckerberg because “certain actions (or the absence of certain actions) by Facebook in their operations in India have thrown into danger” some of the fundamental rights of the people of India.

The letter noted that Facebook defined hate speech as a direct attack on people for characteristics such as 'race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity and serious disabilities or diseases'.

"Given this clear definition in your own policy, we are surprised that Facebook did not take action against some clear and serial offenders in India -- persons like T Raja Singh and a few others -- for their derogatory comments against people belonging to a different religion, accusing Muslims of spreading Covid-19, indulging in 'love jihad' and various other misdemeanours," they said.

"What is striking about Facebook's leniency towards these persons is that all of them happen to be members of the political party in power. That Facebook did consider the posts to be offensive is apparent from the fact that these posts were deleted on August 17, after the WSJ wrote to Facebook seeking its comments," they added.

The letter also referred to Delhi riots and cow vigilantism among others and said many of these crimes have been instigated through hate speech spread through Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.