Facebook was aware of anti-Muslim content in India but took little action in a bid to maintain good relations with the country's right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Activists of the Indian far-right Shiv Sena Taksali shout slogans as they burn an effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency during a protest in Amritsar on October 8, 2021.
The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address these issues. Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or the BJP, are involved.
“Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online,” a company spokesperson said. In the note, titled “An Indian Test User’s Descent into a Sea of Polarizing, Nationalistic Messages,” the employee whose name is redacted said they were “shocked” by the content flooding the news feed which “has become a near constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore.”
“Following this test user’s News Feed, I’ve seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I’ve seen in my entire life total,” the researcher wrote.
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