An article in an American newspaper triggered war of words between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the government on Sunday. Quoting the report, the former Congress president alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were controlling social media giants such as Facebook and Whatsapp in India.

“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,” Rahul Gandhi said in his tweet citing the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report.

Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad was quick to respond to the Wayanad MP’s allegations while questioning him over his silence on Bengaluru violence.

“Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us?” he said.

“Btw, haven’t yet heard your condemnation of the Bangalore riots. Where did your courage disappear?” Prasad added in his series of tweets.

Another senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also used the article to question whether the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology will seek an explanation from Facebook regarding issues raised by the foreign media. “The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would certainly wish to hear from @Facebook about these reports & what they propose to do about hate-speech in India,” Tharoor said in his tweet.

The WSJ article titled ‘Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics’ claimed that Facebook tends to look the other way concerning hate speeches by leaders linked to the ruling BJP.