Congress Accuses Facebook Of BJP Bias, Demands Joint Parliamentary Panel Probe

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegation of Facebook's "complicity" in favour the BJP and said the Congress will not allow India's hard-won democracy "to be manipulated and tarnished".

Mr Chowdhury said media articles "have revealed how Facebook and WhatsApp have colluded to tarnish India's democracy".

He said "digital imperialism has started" and alleged that there was "an alliance between Facebook and BJP".

"In a span of just two weeks, three separate articles incredible international media publications have revealed how Facebook and WhatsApp have colluded with the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to tarnish India''s democracy. It is an alliance between Facebook and BJP so that the Facebook can earn money from India and help BJP winning elections," Mr Chowdhury alleged.

He referred to an email written by the head of Facebook India's public policy team to her colleagues apparently "referring to" BJP''s victory in the 2014 general elections.

Mr Chowdhury alleged that investigative articles in the US media have "exposed Facebook and WhatsApp's nexus with the BJP".

Accusing two social media giants of "complicity in propagating hate speech and fake news to favour the BJP in elections," he alleged that Facebook's global leadership team "was well aware of the biases and partisanship of their India leadership team".

He said India is a sovereign republic and simply cannot tolerate interference in its domestic affairs by anyone, "let alone a foreign company in pursuit of profits".

"The founders and leaders of the Congress party sacrificed their lives to win India her freedom and to establish India as a democratic republic. We will not allow this hard-won democracy to be manipulated and tarnished," he said.

Seeking an immediate Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation, Mr Chowdhury also demanded a criminal investigation into the affairs of Facebook India.

He demanded that all "pending approvals and licenses for Facebook and WhatsApp should be put on hold until the investigations are completed".

Mr Chowdhury demanded suspension of Facebook India's leadership team with immediate effect until the conclusion of the investigations.

The Congress also demanded an inquiry by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology into activities of all heads of public policy teams of foreign technology companies operating in India and establishing a code of conduct.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)