Muslim staffers at Facebook call for transparency in enforcing policies

BENGALURU: Facebook said it is “against anti-Muslim hate and bigotry” as employees asked the company to review its handling of hate speech in India, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The employees told the leadership of the company that its organisational structure combining content policy and government affairs under the same umbrella is fundamentally flawed.

In a letter sent by members of the social-media giant’s internal group for Muslim employees, called Muslim@, staffers from India, the US and Middle East said Facebook needed to make its policy-enforcement process for high-profile users more transparent and less susceptible to political influence.


Facebook claimed it had an open culture. “This letter is a prime example of the type of open culture we value at Facebook,” a company spokesman said in a statement to WSJ. “Leaders at Facebook appreciate the honest, candid feedback they receive. We stand against anti-Muslim hate and bigotry and welcome the opportunity to continue the conversation on these issues.”

In the letter addressed to the FB Leadership, the employees asked for a review of why, although some material from a politician had been removed, he remains on the platform, the WSJ reported.

“There was also no acknowledgement that we might have made mistakes in allowing such content to remain on the platform,” the letter said. “This is deeply saddening and can be viewed as indicating a lack of empathy for the Muslim experience at best and a tacit condoning of this behaviour at worst,” the WSJ said, quoting the letter. Facebook is under attack over its handling of hate content in India, its largest market in terms of users.