Congress has accused Facebook of influencing India's elections and undermining democracy. Congress has demanded an inquiry by its joint parliamentary committee. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera has raised the issue of the social media giant's internal report on not initiating action against hate speech or posts on Facebook platforms in India, saying that Facebook has turned itself into a fakebook. There has been no reaction from Facebook India to the allegations.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Kheda also alleged that Facebook was acting as an ally of the BJP and pushing its agenda. Kheda, citing research documents by whistleblower Francis Hojen, who works at Facebook, alleged that he had not taken any decisive action against those who posted such hate speech in Hindi and Bengali.

Demand for investigation

He alleged that more than a million fake accounts were identified in Facebook's internal report, yet he did nothing about it. "We demand a JPC probe into Facebook's role in influencing our election," Kheda said.

Trying to undermine democracy

He accused Facebook of trying to undermine our democracy through fake posts to influence public opinion. He alleged that BJP workers and their associates had infiltrated the structure and functioning of Facebook. What right does Facebook have to promote a certain ideology through fake posts, pictures and stories? Only 0.2 percent of hate speech was removed by Facebook. Despite earning the most from India, it does not have a mechanism on how to filter posts in Hindi or Bengali.

The role of Facebook in the realm of doubt

Khera said only nine per cent of users in India are in English and yet they do not have the system to filter posts, content in regional languages. He alleged that the role of Facebook during the Delhi riots and the West Bengal elections had been in doubt. He said Facebook’s role cannot be ruled out as a mistake, as it is deliberately advancing the ruling party’s agenda and its ideology that creates hatred, bigotry and division in society.