Parliamentary panel should question Meta on fact-check, guidelines on hate speech: TMC MP

TMC MP Saket Gokhale criticizes Meta for spreading hate speech and fake news, urges accountability in India.

If Meta executives are summoned by the Parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, they should be questioned about the company's decision to stop fact-checking and changes in its content guidelines on hate speech and disinformation, panel member and TMC MP Saket Gokhale said on Wednesday (January 15, 2025).

Mr. Gokhale's remarks come a day after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the panel, said the committee will summon executives from social media giant Meta for "tarnishing" India's image amid a controversy over its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's statement during a podcast that after the COVID-19 pandemic, most incumbent governments, including the one in India, lost elections in 2024.

In a letter to Mr. Dubey, Mr. Gokhale said that in the same interview, Mr. Zuckerberg also announced that the platform would be ending its fact-check programme and would also be making changes to its community guidelines.

"It has been reported on several occasions that there has been a significant misuse of Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) for spreading hate speech in India. There are concerns about Meta not adequately acting towards removing hateful content and taking action against accounts that spread such content," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

He also said there has also been "immense criticism" of the role of Meta's platforms in spreading "disinformation and fake news".

"During the time of elections, it has also been noted by several independent reviewers that Meta tends to exhibit a bias towards certain political parties and does not apply the guidelines for political content uniformly," he said.

Mr. Gokhale said Meta has often been accused of not adhering to the guidelines of the Model Code of Conduct during elections and allowed certain political parties to create proxy accounts that are used for election propaganda.