Facebook BJP favour row: FB executive Ankhi Das files police complaint, cites online threats

NEW DELHI: Ankhi Das, Facebook’s public policy director for India, South and Central Asia, has filed a police complaint in New Delhi, citing “violent (online) threats to life and body.” Das said the threats are in relation to The Wall Street Journal report published on August 14, which claims that Das had opposed application of the platform’s hate speech rules to posts by BJP leaders.

Das did not respond to ET’s queries for comments on her complaint.

“We take the safety and security of employees seriously and care for their well-being. However, we do not comment on individual employee matters,” said a Facebook spokesperson. ET has seen a copy of the email sent by Das to the SHO, cyber cell unit of Delhi Police, on Sunday night.


“On a complaint of online threats and harassment received from Ankhi Das, Facebook India, a case has been registered on August 17 and investigation has been taken up by CyPAD unit,” Delhi Police said on Monday.

Das cited some Facebook and Twitter accounts in her complaint and said she has been receiving violent threats since August 14 evening, and is “extremely disturbed” by relentless harassment meted out to her by the accused. She also said the content maligns her reputation based on a news article and she is being subjected to name calling, cyber bullying and online eve-teasing.

“The content, which even includes my photograph, is evidently threatening to my life and body. I fear for my safety as well as that of my family members... the accused persons have intentionally vilified me due to their political affiliations and are now engaging in online and offline abuse, subjecting me to criminal intimidation and making sexually coloured remarks,” Das wrote.

CONGRESS SEEKS JPC PROBE
“Our stand is very clear. We have asked for a joint parliamentary committee probe (JPC). We are very clear that these are the concerns raised by The Wall Street Journal. We are saying these are the points where Facebook India should have taken care and followed the policy and that is what is written in the article. So, I don’t know what complaint is she talking about,” said Rohan Gupta, chairman, social media department, Indian National Congress .

“Allegations are very serious. Whether they are correct or not, there has to be a JPC probe to introspect. We have also asked Facebook’s global team to conduct an internal inquiry and come out with the truth. She should file a complaint against The Wall Street Journal if she thinks that is not correct,” he added.

Posting an article by BJP MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Amit Malviya, national IT head for BJP, tweeted, “What the Left wants is not control over hate speech but unfettered freedom of hate speech to its ideologically aligned members. That’s why you would hear Mark Zuckerberg quote Kapil Mishra but say nothing on Sonia Gandhi of ‘aar paar ki ladai’ fame.”

Citing current and former Facebook employees, The Wall Street Journal on August 14 alleged Das opposed applying hate speech rules to posts by Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh and three other BJP leaders and groups flagged internally for promoting violence. It says current and former employees told The Wall Street Journal that Das’ intervention is part of a broader pattern of favouritism by Facebook towards BJP and what the report termed as ‘Hindu hardliners’.

The report stated that in April last year, before voting began in India’s general elections, Facebook announced it had taken down inauthentic pages tied to Pakistan’s military and the Congress, but did not disclose it also removed pages with false news tied to the BJP because Das intervened.

In a tweet on Sunday, Congress Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor, who is also chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, had said it would wish to hear from Facebook about these reports and what they propose to do about hate speech in India.