Interference by top brass led to compromise, says Ex-Facebook staffer

Scathing revelations on internal functioning: Delhi Assembly panel

Former Facebook employee Mark Luckie on Thursday levelled a range of allegations, including “compromised implementation” of community standards by the social media platform, in his deposition before the Delhi Assembly’s Committee on Peace and Harmony, according to an official statement.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment when asked for the company's reaction on the charges levelled by Luckie.

Top managerial posts at Facebook are given to those who have “strong governmental associations or political affiliations”, Luckie said during his examination by committee chairman, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha, the statement issued by the panel said.

“The witness during the course of deposition made extremely scathing revelations on the internal functioning of Facebook, thus giving insights on the entire organisational structure of Facebook globally as well as regionally,” it added.

“Repeated interference of the top heads of the Facebook on content moderating teams has led to compromising on community guidelines,” Luckie was quoted as saying in the statement.

In his virtual deposition, the former Facebook employee claimed that the executive team of the social media giant, including its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is “generally aware of such gross inaction and misappropriation” of the community standards and other policies of the company, the statement said.

“Facebook would like the world to believe that it is politically agnostic to maintain a safe image, however, it isn’t as agnostic as it claims to be,” Luckie said.

The peace and harmony committee is holding a hearing on complaints received by it against certain content on Facebook. It has examined six witnesses so far, including independent journalists and digital rights activists.