Revelations made by a Facebook whistleblower on how the social media giant handled misinformation and hate news on its platform, which also reportedly had an impact in India ahead of the last general elections, has reached the Information Technology Parliamentary Committee.
Sophie Zhang, a former Facebook employee who made the company’s alleged unethical working public, has shared a dossier with the house panel headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, sources told The Indian Express.
The committee, in its meeting on November 29, had summoned Facebook India officials to appear before it to discuss what the whistleblower has shared, sources added.
According to the agenda, the IT panel will “hear the views of the representatives of Facebook India on the subject ‘Safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space’,” and will also hear representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the same.
Zhang, who appeared before the British parliament last month, had expressed interest in appearing before the Indian parliamentary panel. Zhang claimed she worked to remove a “politically sophisticated network of more than a thousand actors working to influence” the Delhi Assembly elections in February 2020, and that the social media firm did not publicly disclose this network or that it had been taken down. Her revelation is part of a 6,600-word memo...
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