After appearing before British parliament last month, Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang is keen to appear before India’s parliamentary committee on information, although the final decision on this is the committee’s. Hindustan Times has learnt that in a confidential note, members (MPs) have been sent submissions by the former data scientist who has also offered to testify before the committee. A final decision will be taken by the committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor during the meeting on Monday and it all depends on whether a majority of the MPs allow her testimony.
Neither Tharoor nor other members of the panel responded to queries seeking comment.
Zhang is a former Facebook data scientist who warned in an internal memo that there was a “political sophisticated” attempt to influence the February 2020 Delhi elections, involving “more than a thousand” people. The network was taken down, according to Zhang’s memo, although the company did not report this takedown. Zhang worked in the social media company’s Site Integrity team. Zhang was subsequently fired from the company. In a tweet last month, Zhang said she would be willing to testify before Indian Parliament. She testified before British MPs on October 28.
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