Facebook India executive under fire for promoting Modi’s BJP on employees group

A top executive of Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform is in hot water these days, for posting messages of her support for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for several years on a Facebook group of the company employees.

Ankhi Das, Facebook India executive also detailed efforts to help the party win the 2014 national election, the Wall Street Journal said in its latest report.

As per the report, FB's India policy leader received internal election predictions from "senior leader and close friend in BJP" and said the downfall of the Congress party meant victory over "state socialism," which many Facebook said the sentiments and actions conflicted with the company’s longstanding neutrality pledge.

The report further added that Das had told staff members that punishing violations by politicians from Modi’s party “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country.”

The report also quoted a message by Das posted the day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the 2014 in India: “We lit a fire to his social media campaign and the rest is of course history.” Whereas, in a separate post on Congress’s defeat, Das called Modi a “strongman” and said “It’s taken thirty years of grassroots work to rid India of state socialism finally.”

Just weeks ago, Das filed a police complaint in New Delhi, saying she is receiving death threats following a media report that said she and the US social network company allegedly favoured Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party.

Das said in her complaint to Delhi police that some individuals online had "intentionally vilified" her due to their political affiliations and were engaging in abuse, Indian media reported. Das has said the threats followed a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report last week that said she opposed applying Facebook's hate-speech rules to a member of Mr Modi's party and some other Hindu nationalist individuals and groups "flagged internally for promoting or participating in violence.”