Facebook's top India public policy executive, who was at the centre of a row over the alleged failure to address hate speech on the platform, has quit, the social media giant said Wednesday.

The network sparked a political storm in India after the Wall Street Journal reported in August that policy chief Ankhi Das refused to take down anti-Muslim comments by a Hindu nationalist lawmaker as it could damage the firm's business interests.

India is the biggest market for the US-based company and its messaging service WhatsApp in terms of users, and the firm is under pressure worldwide over the policing of hate speech.

Ajit Mohan, Facebook India's managing director, said Das was leaving Facebook "to pursue her interest in public service".

"Ankhi was one of our earliest employees in India and played an instrumental role in the growth of the company and its services over the last nine years," Mohan said in a statement.

Mohan in September rejected allegations the Silicon Valley firm failed to act on hate speech over business concerns, telling the Times of India that the company was doing everything possible to "keep all kinds of harm away from the platform".

He said Das was not responsible for any decisions governing hate speech and that the public policy team was separate from the content policy team that enforces such decisions.

More than 40 rights groups worldwide had written a letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in September demanding that Das be sidelined, pending the outcome of a civil rights audit.

grk/ch

FACEBOOK

Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

China's Ant Group says to raise $34 bn in record IPO
Beijing (AFP) Oct 26, 2020
Chinese e-payments giant Ant Group said Monday it plans to raise $34 billion in a listing shared between Hong Kong and Shanghai, making it the biggest IPO in history. The record-shattering IPO comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump tries to smother Chinese technology companies, whose ascent is seen by Washington as a threat to American security, prestige and supremacy in the digital age. The cash raised from the split float between Hong Kong and Shanghai would exceed the $29 bi ... read more