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Facebook Staff Accused of Blocking Right-Wing Views in India (bloomberg.com) 86

India's Minister of Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad accused some Facebook employees of blocking right-wing views in the nation, escalating a battle over content moderation in the social media company's largest market by users. From a report: Prasad made the allegations in a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. The note comes two weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. firm failed to remove alleged hate speech from a lawmaker belonging to Prasad's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Facebook is grappling with a backlash in India after the Journal reported Facebook deleted anti-Muslim posts by BJP lawmaker Raja Singh and three other Hindu nationalists only after being questioned by the paper. Current and former Facebook employees told the paper that Facebook's head of public policy, Ankhi Das, opposed the deletion of the posts despite being flagged internally as breaching standards. Prasad also alleged that Facebook tried to influence public opinion before India's 2019 elections.
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Facebook Staff Accused of Blocking Right-Wing Views in India

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  • This is the proper way to handle people who post that kind of stuff online, Australia has it right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
    • What was the content of the post?

      Depending on what the contents of the post were the police actions may be entirely rational, justified and legal.

      The woman arrested was not in any danger. Therefore the false outrage of the broadcasters is way overplayed.

      • This is the content of the post
        https://twitter.com/GoodisonEn... [twitter.com]
        and this is her arrest
        https://twitter.com/AussieVal1... [twitter.com]

        Legal in a police state maybe. not elsewhere.

        • by OMBad ( 6965950 )
          Here is her interview after: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

          Pretty fucking sick. Arresting someone for ORGANIZING A PROTEST?
        • Are large groups allowed to meet in her region?

          There are many limitations about groups over 10 or 50 during the pandemic in many regions of the world. Calling for a group to gather may be an issue in her region of Australia.

          She was probably arrested for attempting to have a large group event. Nothing wrong with that if it's legal in her country and locality.

          • Nothing wrong with spying on facebook and preventively arresting people who call for a demonstration? What do you think it would mean if there were a law like that? Yes there are limitations in demonstrations. They are generally unconstitutional limitations.

            • Australia is not the US.

              In the US during a pandemic limits can be placed on the number of persons who may assembly physically in one place to prevent the spread of disease as has been done in many jurisdictions in the US.

              And the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly upheld such restrictions dating from the 1830s.

              An open invitation on Facebook is not private. No spying is required.

              • I agree that from a legal point of view you are right. Australia does not have a bill of rights afaik.
                Restrictions on the right of assembly can easily be abused and I don't know to what extent they have been. Currently that becomes an important issue.
                As soon as these laws are interpreted to restrict the right of political assembly you run into abuse.
                The right on privacy then can also be interpreted in a very limited way. If the police is tracking you on facebook and arresting you for trying to start a polit

                • If you can be arrested for paper postings on multiple physical community bulletin boards organizing an illegal event then the same should apply to public Facebook postings.

                  Facebook is *supposedly* designed to force people to use their real identities and thus accept the consequences of their postings on Facebook and in the real world.

                  During a pandemic there are going to limits of the physical assembly of humans. Such restrictions are not illegal in the US nor apparently Australia.

                  Thankfully, modern technolo

            • There are laws exactly like that for posting illegal events on physical bulletin boards all over town. You can be arrested for advertising such events. In many cases, such bulletin boards are on private property like at grocery stores and coffee shops. Facebook postings are just a virtual representation of paper bulletin board postings on Facebook's private property. So the same laws apply in the jurisdictions that those laws exist.

              Post promoting/advertising a gathering of people doing anything illegal with

  • ... or participating in any of the other bizarre and self destructive rituals that come along with what they call 'conservatism' in 2020.
  • They should get on that quick. Poor snowflakes.
  • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @12:07PM (#60465912)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by OMBad ( 6965950 )
      Exactly. Moderation is very important too. When I get high moderated posts I know I am being Insightful. Then I get low moderated posts I know I am not being Insightful so I modify my posts accordingly. That way I know I am being rational.
    • The reason that there *seems* to be more people on the right complaining about it is that on the right, extremists have louder voices that reach further.

      Preface: I have no skin in the game here. I neither identify as conservative or progressive.

      With that said, I'm curious how you define "extremist." Is there a such thing, in your opinion, as a "left-wing extremist" and, if so, how would you categorize that?

      I tend to think of left wing extremists as being socialists and communists. People who lean left but are moderate tend to be pro-capitalism, they just want a safety net and regulation. The further left the more you hear rhetoric along the lines of capita

    • Since it's now mainstream to offer to bail people out if they get arrested for rioting and looting (leftist celebs and others and putnover $50 million to get rioters out of jail and back to hurling rocks), while praying for peace is now considered right-wing, yeah conservative is now called "right wing". Leftist extremism, antifa, is now mainstream.

  • I can't talk about what constitutes right wing politics in India, But currently in America. The Right Wing has dropped all pretense of rationality and are just spewing lies.

    Right Wing: We are being invited!
    Rational People: Where, How, Who?
    Right Wing: Everywhere!!!!!, They are secretly putting all the people in the rights spots for some nefarious purpose, that we don't know because they are so sly. Its those people who I don't like this week, who are lazy and stupid.
    Rational People: So if these people ar

    • by OMBad ( 6965950 )
      Exactly. I propose we require Right Wing people to stitch a label to their clothes so we can identify them immediately and not be exposed to their lives. I recommend a yellow star as it is bright in color and can be seen at a distance.
      • Exactly. I propose we require Right Wing people to stitch a label to their clothes so we can identify them immediately and not be exposed to their lives. I recommend a yellow star as it is bright in color and can be seen at a distance.

        Christ that's some industrial strength bleating.

        The right currently have the presidency, senate and supreme court. Until two years ago you had the house as well. How the fuck can you think you're something on a par with the Jews in Nazi Germany?

      • No that is pushing it too far, into being evil.

        Currently the Right Wing is being influenced by Trump who is just a Narcissist and possibly a psychopath and are taking his cues. But the left does have a negative side too.
        I honestly want to see a Conservationism in government, it is needed especially after a period of progressiveness. However the debates and arguments need to be based on truth, not lies.

        For most people Right or Left, once you get them off talking the party line, you find when asking them ab

        • However we are being fed lies, and some are believing in the lies

          I am old enough to remember when lying was considered wrong and not just an effective political tactic...

    • by Shimbo ( 100005 )

      I can't talk about what constitutes right wing politics in India, But currently in America. The Right Wing has dropped all pretense of rationality and are just spewing lies.

      India is worse. The BJP are channeling a toxic mixture of nationalism and religious fundamentalism which makes the religious right in the US look like a model of tolerance.

    • Do you know what is disappointing? Lies actually seem to work and that is why the frequency of lies/deceit are increasing dramatically. Apparently, a large segment of our population do not care for the truth but tend to seek out claims that support their invested biases. Trump more than any other recent politician realizes this phenomenon and continuously deploys a virtual carpet bombing on truth and honesty. What is bizarre is that Trump is mostly supported by the Christian Evangelicals who are the self

  • I think we should just expect from now on that the Right worldwide is going to cry victimhood at every turn. Grievance is their primary engine, and blaming someone else about everything prevents them from having to actually persuade. Never admit any possible failure or weakness, always point to some other as the fault. It's a hallmark of moral bankruptcy, and we can see it play out every single day.

    It fits with all of the other properties of the Right: racism, bigotry, anti-iscience, anti-intellectualis

  • Not that I'm in India but the moderation I've seen is the right wing stuff that are complete fabrications. In the last three years or so I accepted friend requests from a some folks that I grew up. A bunch of them are real live dyed in the wool right wingers. At first I blocked a few of them but recently I unblocked everyone just for the entertainment factor.

    Yes, they've been getting some moderation from FB. The stuff that is getting blocked is obvious fabrications. Right wing, left wing, it don't matt

  • virtually everywhere. Even the "Antifa fascist Democratic cities" are helmed by moderate Democrats what would be Republicans if this was 1981. Yet even though they're in charge of practically everything (yes, that includes India, where it's getting really scary if you're not a Hindu nationalist...) they somehow always seem ever so persecuted

    It's a classic Karl Rove tactic. He got it from the Russians and they got it from the Nazis. You'd think about almost 100 years we'd learn to spot it.
  • Politicians are threatening facebook and friends with "changes to section 230" or outright breakup if they don't play ball. That's a bad enough violation of the first amendment (which many countries have nothing like, so have no impediments to censorship, direct, or indirect via business interference.)

    But wait! It's just harrassment! It isn't intended to hurt political oppon...oh wait. There are many calls to censor, or trigger warning politicians, who, coincidentally, are opposed by those calling for t

  • Sounds like Facebook is doing their job and trying to save lives.

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2020... [foreignpolicy.com]

  • and they've decided Kyle Rittenhouse is a mass shooter and any posts supporting him are being removed and accounts deleted....

    that is some bullshit right there...

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