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Facebook executive in Delhi alleges threat to life, seeks police protection

The 49-year-old complainant lady said that the threats have been started coming since the article published by the Wall Street Journal claimed that Facebook overlooks hate speech by the BJP leaders.  

Facebook executive in Delhi alleges threat to life, seeks police protection

(Representational image: iStock)

A man, who works with the social media giant Facebook, on Monday file a police complaint alleging threat to his life naming at least five people in the national capital.

The Facebook executive who lodged the complaint is a 49-year-old lady who said that the threats have been started coming since the article published by the Wall Street Journal last week claimed that Facebook overlooks hate speech by the BJP leaders.

She demanded immediate arrest of the five people she has named and also sought police protection.

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“I am under constant fear and threat, especially being a woman. The perpetrators are deliberately operating through online accounts to hide their identity and to further spread misinformation and incite violence against me to meet their agenda,” NDTV quoted her as saying.

“The above threats are in relation to an article dated 14 August 2020 published in Wall Street Journal and further published in a mischaracterized and distorted manner in India by various publications and further widely circulated on social media,” she added.

The controversy around the article sparked after the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had tweeted the article and said, “BJP & RSS control Facebook & Whatsapp in India. They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook.”

The remarks were met with a sharp counter-attack from Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who reminded the opposition party of the Cambridge Analytica issue.

“Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP and RSS.” Prasad said.

In its reaction, Facebook said it “prohibits hate speech and content that incites violence and enforces these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position or party affiliation.”

“We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone’s political position or party 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.

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