A prime Facebook govt in India has apologized to Muslims within the firm for sharing a put up on her Facebook web page that referred to as India’s Muslims a “degenerate community” for whom “nothing except purity of religion and implementation of Shariah matter.”
“Dear friends – The intent of my personal Facebook post was not to denigrate Islam,” Ankhi Das, Facebook’s coverage director for India and South and Central Asia, wrote in an inner message to staff obtained by BuzzFeed News. “It was to reflect my deep belief in celebrating feminism and civic participation. I value all perspectives I have heard over the past days about how the post was received and as a result I have deleted the post. I genuinely regret any hurt it may have caused, including to my Muslim colleagues in the company.”
The put up she shared in late 2019 was written by a former Indian police officer in response to protests in opposition to a discriminatory citizenship legislation that fast-tracks Indian citizenship for South Asian immigrants belonging to most main religions besides Islam.
However, Das didn’t remark straight on a Wall Street Journal story earlier this month that reported that she had shielded T. Raja Singh, a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and not less than three different Hindu nationalists, from punishment for violating Facebook’s hate speech guidelines, telling staffers that doing so can be unhealthy for Facebook’s enterprise in India. Singh, a BJP politician from the Indian state of Telangana, is understood for anti-Muslim hate speech. In posts on Facebook, he reportedly referred to as for Muslims to be slaughtered, for Rohingya Muslim immigrants to be shot, and mosques to be razed.
In feedback on Das’s put up, some Muslim Facebook staff pushed again and referred to as for Facebook to do higher.
“Thank you for acknowledging that the post was hurtful to the Muslim community. It is a first step in the right direction,” one individual stated. “As a company, we now need to do an honest reflection of hate speech and Islamophobia against Muslims on our platform. In a market where public figures like T. Raja Singh engage in blatant hate speech, as well as incites [sic] violence, against the Muslim community, we need to do more to protect the vulnerable.” The individual additionally demanded that Facebook designate the Hindu supremacist group Bajrang Dal, and others prefer it, as “dangerous,” which may result in organizations and people being kicked off Facebook platforms.
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“[As] a company we need to examine what transpired in India more closely not to lay blame but to reform our processes,” stated one other Muslim Facebook worker. “Laying blame doesn’t do anything, making structural changes does and I feel we owe it to ourselves, our colleagues, our company, our users, and the world to do so as this will help us bring the world closer together and build better communities.”
The feedback echoed sentiments expressed in a letter despatched to Facebook’s management final week from members of an inner Facebook board for Muslim staff. The letter, first reported by Reuters, referred to as on Facebook to revamp its construction to mix the groups accountable for content material coverage and lobbying the federal government, embody Muslim staffers in its coverage staff in India, and designate Hindu extremist organizations as harmful organizations below the corporate’s hate speech guidelines.
Facebook didn’t reply to BuzzFeed News’ request for remark.
The Journal story about certainly one of Facebook’s most influential executives, who has been with the corporate since 2011, set off a political firestorm in India. On Tuesday, a committee with members from each the BJP and the New Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party will query Das on Facebook’s position in riots in New Delhi in February the place two-thirds of the greater than 50 individuals killed by Hindu mobs have been recognized as Muslim. An Indian parliamentary panel can even query Facebook executives concerning the firm’s speech regulation insurance policies in India on Sept. 2.
Hours after the report was printed, Das acquired abuse and loss of life threats on her Facebook and Instagram accounts, in addition to on Twitter. In a police criticism, Das named six Facebook and Twitter accounts, together with one belonging to a journalist, and requested police to research them and supply her with safety at her house.
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