We prohibit hate speech that incites violence: Facebook's reply to BJP

A day after the BJP accused Facebook of removing 700 pages aligned to a nationalist narrative before 2019 polls, the social media group responded by saying it does not allow speech and content inciting violence.

On Sunday, the BJP IT Cell Head Amit Malviya had claimed that the BJP and the 'wider conservative ecosystem' was not aligned to Facebook as the latter removed 700 pages related to a nationalist narrative in the run-up to the 2019 general elections.

"We prohibit hate speech and content that incites violence and we enforce these policies globally without regard to anyone's political position or party affiliation. While we know there is more to do, we're making progress on enforcement and conduct regular audits of our process to ensure fairness and accuracy," Facebook''s spokesperson said on Monday.

Accusing the US-based social media company of removing 700 pages before last year's Lok Sabha polls, Malviya had said, while speaking to ANI, "It is ludicrous to suggest that the BJP and the wider conservative ecosystem is aligned to Facebook. In fact, the reverse is true. In the run-up to the 2019 general elections, Facebook removed 700 pages. Most of them were aligned to a nationalist narrative".

"The communities that they have taken down after that is also fairly large. There is no redressal whatsoever. Therefore to suggest that Facebook is aligned to BJP is absolutely untrue," he added.

He went on to accuse Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi of hate speech.

"As far as hate speech is concerned, Sonia Gandhi is at the forefront. Her divisive speech resulted in wide-scale rioting, death and destruction in the national capital. If Facebook has to address hate speech, they have to start with Sonia Gandhi," he had said.

Earlier on Sunday, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had accused the BJP and the RSS of controlling the Facebook and Whatsapp in the country.

"BJP and RSS control Facebook and Whatsapp in India. They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook," Rahul Gandhi he had tweeted on Sunday citing a media report.