Congress President Sonia Gandhi urged the government to stop Face Book interference in India Politics. Moreover, she urged the government to put an end to their ‘systematic influence and interference’ in electoral politics.
She added that the social media giants are being used and abused in Indian politics. She raised her concern that India’s democracy is at stake, due to the social media.
Mrs Gandhi on Wednesday, expressed her concern during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha. She said global companies such as Facebook and Twitter are being increasingly used. They are tools “to shape political narratives by leaders, political parties and their proxies”.
Most importantly this issue should be addressed, she said. Mrs. Gandhi spoke about “the rising danger of social media being abused to hack our democracy”. In addition to this, it has repeatedly come to public notice that global social media companies” are not providing a level playing field to all political parties.”
According to the NDTV, she was referring to a report published in the Al Jazeera. She quoted the Reporters’ Collective claiming that Facebook had offered BJP cheaper deals for election advertisements as compared to other political parties.
“These reports show a growing nexus between big corporations, the ruling establishment and global social media giants like Facebook,” she said.
Furthermore, she said the young and the old are being influenced by the social media. Their minds are “filled with hate” through emotionally charged disinformation, and proxy advertising companies like Facebook are profiting from it.
