New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The uproar over the Facebook hate speech row picked up pace on Thursday after two BJP MPs wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding removal of Shashi Tharoor as the chief of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology.
Accusing Tharoor of floating rules, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore in his letter to Om Birla said, "We are not against representative of any organisation being called, but he (Mr Tharoor) instead of discussing with us, discussed it with the media," Rathore was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"If we go by the book, Tharoor cannot exercise powers without members' support. Although his explanation is 'this matter in public interest should be taken up by us," Rathore added.
While another BJP MP Nishikant Dubey in his letter demanded the removal of Shashi Tharoor as the chairman of the Standing Committee and wrote, “Shashi Tharoor's tenure has been controversial... Speaking in Spenserian English in foreign accent does not give one freedom to an individual to disregard parliamentary institutions".
Dubey also listed past incidents in his letter in which according to him Tharoor created controversies and accused the Congress leader of making remarks on social media on examination of Personal Data Protection Bill by the Joint Select Committee without discussing the matter with the committee members.
Both Shashi Tharoor and Nishikant Dubey had already filed a breach of privilege motion against each other over the issue. Tharoor tweeted that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would like to hear from Facebook on the issue and summoned Ankhi Das, Facebook India’s Policy Director.
Tharoor said the MPs' panel would consider a testimony under the topic "Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms". Retorting to Tharoor’s remarks, Dubey, who is also the member of the panel, said that the “chairman of the panel does not have authority to do anything without discussion of the agenda with its members"
The feud between BJP and Congress erupted after a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) cited unnamed Facebook insiders to claim that one of its senior India policy executives intervened to stop a permanent ban on a BJP MLA from Telangana after he allegedly made communally charged posts. The report by WSJ further stated that the company did this to avoid upsetting the ruling government.
Reacting to the controversy, Facebook on Monday said the company's social media platform prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence, adding these policies are enforced globally without regard to political affiliation.
"While we know there is more to do, we're making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy," a Facebook spokesperson said.
Posted By: Talib Khan
