Facebook, Mark
Zuckerberg’s social media giant which was recently renamed Meta, had to answer
questions about its operations in Indian capital Delhi during communal riots
that broke out in February 2020. The Delhi legislative assembly’s committee on peace
and harmony questioned Facebook India on the religious make-up of the company’s
public policy team and board members and its attitude towards hate speech.

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The Delhi assembly
panel asked Facebook India’s public policy chief Shivnath Thukral questions on
what the company did regarding the complaints that it received about hate
speech a month prior to the riots and two months after. To this, the Facebook
India public policy chief said the company is consistently working on making it
safer.

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“Hate hurts us. We
don’t want hate on our platform. Our advertisers don’t either, Thukral told the
panel. To this, panel chief and Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha
countered: “I am not sure whether hate hurts you because you are a business and
virality of hate posts bring your revenue.”

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Raghav Chadha then
asked Thukral, “What is the religious affiliation of people working in Facebook
India,” to which the public policy director said that the firm has 300
employees across the country and 20 members in the public policy team.

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With regard to “religious
affiliation” of employees, Thukral said, “We don’t maintain the records
regarding the number of religious minority employees as the law of the land
doesn’t allow that.”

The Facebook India
public chief further said the company has spent five billion dollars this year
for safety and security. “We are mindful and take the issue seriously. I don’t
sleep peacefully with hate,” he said.

Facebook further
said that the company has promptly responded to complaints. “Within 24 hours an
acknowledgement is given on complaints if the content violates policy, it’s
taken down immediately,” Thukral said.