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Rights groups accuse Facebook of helping spread violent hate speech in India
- In a letter addressed to Zuckerberg, over 40 civil rights groups demanded that the head of Facebook’s India policy chief Ankhi Das be removed
- The social media giant is battling a storm over how it handled comments by a member of India’s ruling party who called Muslims traitors
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Civil rights groups on Wednesday said Facebook has failed to address dangerous content in India and demanded that the head of public policy there be removed.
A letter addressed to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and his second-in-command Sheryl Sandberg wanted the social network’s India policy chief Ankhi Das sidelined pending the results of a civil rights audit.
“Facebook should not be complicit in more offline violence, much less another genocide, but the pattern of inaction displayed by the company is reckless to the point of complicity,” the letter stated.
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“It is no secret, given the acknowledged and harsh realities of Facebook’s role in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, that online violence and hate easily spill into violence in real life.”
The letter was signed by more than 40 groups including the Southern Poverty Law Centre, Witness, Muslim Advocates, and Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
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It comes in the wake of controversy over anti-Muslim remarks posted on the page of a member of the ruling party that were not initially removed.
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Facebook post on Prophet Mohammad leads to deadly clashes in India
Facebook post on Prophet Mohammad leads to deadly clashes in India
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