Ex-Facebook employee exposes the company for knowingly allowing anti-Muslim content in India.

According to whistleblower and former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, Facebook was always aware of all the incendiary anti-Muslim material posted on their platforms in India by members of right-wing Hindu nationalists but turned a blind eye to it.

Using internal corporate papers, she said that Facebook classified the material of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) individuals, groups, and pages as "fear-mongering propaganda." However, after considering "political implications," Facebook opted against identifying the RSS users, groups, and pages, as well as reporting the inflammatory material posted against Muslims.

If Facebook had made the tough choice to categorise RSS-related material without fear of political ramifications, it would have resulted in greater surveillance of RSS users, groups, and pages across all of its platforms. According to Haugen, who cited internal business papers, Facebook has detected a number of anti-Muslim postings on its platforms that likened Muslims to 'pigs' and 'dogs,' as well as disinformation stating that the Quran called for men to rape their female family members.' Facebook, on the other hand, chose not to take any action in response to such postings.

Complaints Against Facebook

Frances Haugen has filed eight complaints with the US Securities and Exchange Commission against Facebook. Her accusations are all based on hundreds of internal corporate papers that she surreptitiously stole before quitting Facebook in May of this year.

Four out of every eight complaints filed against Facebook are over material connected to India. Only three countries have been designated as "Tier-0 Nations," which means that Facebook is obliged to carefully monitor the material posted on its platforms in these countries during key election events. India is one of them, with the United States and Brazil also on the list. However, 87 percent of the Facebook resources available for this purpose are given to the United States, with the remaining 13 percent going to the rest of the globe.

Despite devoting the majority of its resources to monitoring material in the United States, Facebook failed to prevent disinformation and violent extremism associated with the 2020 US Presidential Elections and Capitol Riots in January of this year.

Facebook Responds to Complaints Filed Against them.

In response to Frances Haugen's lawsuits, Facebook's Director of Policy Communications, Lena Pietsch, said that Facebook must strike a balance between preserving the freedom of billions of people to freely express themselves and the need to make its services safe. She said that Facebook is improving its efforts to combat the spread of fake news and harmful material and that claims that Facebook promotes offensive content and does nothing about it are just false.

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