Indian opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress party, said global companies like Facebook and Twitter are being used to “shape political narrative by leaders of political parties and their proxies” and alleged that social harmony was being disturbed "with the connivance of the ruling establishment."

Expressing concerns over the “rising danger of social media being abused to hack the democracy”, Gandhi asked the government to “put an end to the systematic interference of Facebook and other social media giants in the electoral politics of the world’s largest democracy”.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Parliament's lower house, Wednesday, Gandhi said global companies like Facebook and Twitter are being used to “shape political narrative by leaders of political parties and their proxies”.

“It has come to public notice repeatedly that global social media companies are not providing a level playing field to all political parties,” she said. Gandhi referred to a report published in Al Jazeera and The Reporters’ Collective alleging that Facebook had offered the ruling BJP cheaper deals “by bending their own hate speech rules” for election advertisements as compared to other political parties and suppressed “the voice of all those who were speaking up against the government”.

Stressing that the issue is of “paramount importance”, Gandhi 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. These reports show a growing nexus between big corporations, the ruling establishment and global social media giants like Facebook.”

Gandhi said, “This is beyond partisan politics. We need to protect our democracy and social harmony regardless of who is in power.”

There was no immediate comment from the ruling BJP to Gandhi's charges and contentions. 

(SAM)