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New Delhi:
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday tagged Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as “losers who cannot influence people even in their own party” after the parliamentarian shared a US media report, accusing the ruling BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of influencing insurance policies of social media big Facebook.
“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?” the minister stated.
In a second tweet he added:
The reality is that at the moment entry to data and freedom of expression has been democratized. It is now not managed by retainers of your loved ones and that’s the reason it hurts.
Btw, have not but heard your condemnation of the Bangalore riots. Where did your braveness disappear?
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) August 16, 2020
The minister’s response got here after Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and RSS of controlling Facebook and WhatsApp in India, saying, “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.”
Mr Gandhi shared a narrative revealed by the Wall Street Journal newspaper, that reported how Facebook and the company-owned WhatsApp and Instagram, look the opposite method in circumstances of hate speech and objectionable materials from leaders and employees of the ruling BJP.
The article, titled, “Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics – Company executive opposed move to ban controversial politician,” the US newspaper additionally reported that an government of the social media big had stated punishing violations by BJP employees “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country”.
Quoting present and former workers, the article stated Facebook has a “broader pattern of favouritism” in direction of the BJP.
Soon after the tweet of Mr Gandhi – who has been launching a tweet-a-day assault on the federal government – the occasion’s senior chief Shashi Tharoor flagged the difficulty.
“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,” his tweet learn.
Ravi Shankar Prasad’s point out of Cambridge Analytica was a reference to the two-year-old revelation that the UK-based agency on the coronary heart of a large worldwide information breach had pitched a proposal in 2017 to the Congress occasion, which included “data mining of Facebook posts and tweets” and “influencing voter intention” for the 2019 nationwide election.
The proposal for the Rs 2.5 crore contract was not signed lastly, the Congress had stated, and the federal government has not pursued any authorized motion in opposition to the Congress or the corporate but.
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