End social media interference in our democracy: Sonia Gandhi to government

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 16

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cited the film “The Kashmir Files” to claim that an “entire ecosystem” has been working to suppress the truth, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today red-flagged the “rising danger of social media abuse to influence the Indian democracy”, urging the government to put an end to the “systematic interference” of Facebook and other social media giants in India’s electoral politics.

Making a zero hour submission in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi referred to a report published in Al Jazeera and The Reporters’ Collective to claim that Facebook offered BJP cheaper deals for election advertisements as compared to other political parties.

A toxic ecosystem of proxy advertisers posing as news media is flourishing on Facebook “bypassing election laws of the nation breaking Facebook’s own rules and completely suppressing voice of those speaking up against the government”, she also said, terming the issue “ beyond partisan politics and important for all parties irrespective of whosoever is in power”.

“Global companies like Facebook and Twitter are being used increasingly to shape political narratives by leaders, political parties and their proxies. Evidence showed a growing nexus between big corporations, the ruling establishment and global social media giants like Facebook,” she said.

“The blatant manner in which social harmony is being disturbed by Facebook with the connivance of the ruling establishment is dangerous for our democracy. Young and old minds alike are being filled with hate through emotionally charged disinformation and proxy advertising companies like Facebook are aware of this and are profiting from it,” she said.

“It has repeatedly come to public notice that global social media companies are not providing a level-playing field to all political parties,” she alleged. When asked by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla what her demand was, Gandhi said, “I urge the government to put an end to the systematic influence and interference of Facebook and other social media giants in the electoral politics of the world’s largest democracy.”

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