Top Facebook official summoned by Delhi Assembly's panel over allegations of inaction on hate speech

Facebook India's vice-president and managing director Ajit Mohan has been asked to appear before the panel next week on September 15 over allegations of "complicity of Facebook in the orchestration and aggravation of Delhi riots".

This would be the second time in the month that Ajit Mohan will be facing a government panel on hate speech allegations.  Earlier, he was questioned for over three hours by a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, which takes into account matters like social media abuse.

The official statement issued by the panel said the summon has been issued based on several complaints, some of which also pointed out Wall Street  Journal’s report—Facebook’s Hate Speech Rules Collided With Indian Politics—published on August 14 last.

The committee “promptly” took cognizance of the allegations in the complaints that were “vetted” and began the proceeding in this connection and examined “numerous witnesses”, the statement added.

The panel asked Ajit Mohan to be present stating that he being the Vice-President and the Managing Director of Facebook India is “best suited to deliver insights to the committee with respect to Facebook India’s internal functioning and enforcement of policies”, adding that his “special knowledge would be imperative for the committee while examining the current issue in hand”.

Proceedings, which will begin at 12 PM, shall be live-streamed, the official statement informed.

The committee on ‘Peace and Harmony’ was set up after Delhi saw the worst riots in decades over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA in February this year.