Sources: Facebook has done little to act on the Islamophobic “Love Jihad” conspiracy theory on its platform in India due to “political sensitivities”
In a video posted to Facebook in November 2020, an extremist priest called for Hindus to rise up and begin killing Muslims in India. Tweets: @jason_kint , @damomusings , @verambergen , @skjain_05 , @krantinari , @iamcouncil , @foundationtls , @arifcrafiq , @indscribe , @hrnext , @planet_deb , @jgreenblattadl , @jeffhorwitz , @jason_kint , @jason_kint , @jason_kint , @jason_kint , @jason_kint , @jason_kint , @jason_kint , @foundationtls , @jason_kint , and @sarangsspeaks Tweets: Jason Kint / @jason_kint : The incidents and videos cited in the Time report have massive numbers of views and absolutely horrific examples of hate and inciting violence many of which have been promoted and provided viral velocity and reach by Facebook's platform. /3 https://twitter.com/... Darshan Mondkar / @damomusings : “Allowed it to continue” is an understatement.....they have literally banned people who have spoken out against this, while those blatantly spreading hate are given blue ticks. https://twitter.com/... Vera Bergengruen / @verambergen : The documents suggest that “political sensitivities” are part of the reason that Facebook has chosen not to ban Hindu nationalist groups who are close to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). https://time.com/... SK Jain / @skjain_05 : What @billyperrigo didn't spell out, #Facebook is purely driven by profits in 3rd world sans any morality. Admittedly @Zuckerberg has figured out, hate speech ensures maximum viewing & Ad revenue & if promoted by ruling BJP fringes then so much better. https://time.com/... Nishtha / @krantinari : Mark Zuckerberg has blood on his hands. And no amount of rebranding can change that. Continue to hold him accountable. https://twitter.com/... Indian American Muslim Council / @iamcouncil : Facebook is aware of the danger and prevalence of the Love Jihad conspiracy theory on its platform but has done little to act on it, according to internal Facebook documents seen by TIME, @billyperrigo reports. https://time.com/... @foundationtls : We will be releasing a 3 part public brief documenting hate-speech in India. The first of the 3 part dossier was crowd-sourced by volunteers from TLS, @IAMCouncil and @indiacivilwatch who followed Facebook's algorithms 2/n https://thelondonstory.org/... Arif Rafiq / @arifcrafiq : Facebook will air ads on TV in the US promoting body diversity, etc., but does virtually nothing to stop its platforms from being used to foment anti-Muslim hate and organize deadly pogroms in India. India is Facebook's largest market and it's ruled by a Hindu extremist party. https://twitter.com/... @indscribe : @billyperrigo Facebook has allowed its platform to be misused for spread of hate. In India, level is such that in each & every aspect of life innumerable pages that ‘subtly’ spread hate, apart from thousands of big pages that ‘directly’ do it. ‘Reporting’ doesn't work. Destroying social fabric Anurag Shrivastava / @hrnext : Is it any of Facebook's business to interfere in what people discuss unless legal authorities declare that speech illegal and file a criminal cease and desist order ? https://twitter.com/... DebasishRoy Chowdhury / @planet_deb : Rare reportage on Facebook's conduct that doesn't absolve it with wimp words like “dilemma” and “challenge” the company supposedly faces in India, but calls it out for what it's really doing - collaborate with bloodthirsty supremacists. By @billyperrigo https://time.com/... Jonathan Greenblatt / @jgreenblattadl : Another strong piece of reporting that demonstrates how Facebook leadership has turned a blind eye to hate on its platform. Employees flagged an Islamophobia conspiracy theory, but then leadership refused to take action. We must #StopHateForProfit. https://time.com/... Jeff Horwitz / @jeffhorwitz : FB's inaction on “Love Jihad” content at a time when people are being murdered for interfaith marriages is a reminder that everything is negotiable — and that the India operation's reporting structure gives it a long leash. https://time.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : I'll add a connection to end of this thread earlier. Facebook is in a PR and policy war right now. If you're treating not building off what we already know, you're working vs accountability, civil society. If you're doing footsie interviews with them, you're trading access. /11 https://twitter.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : The kicker is at the very end of this Time report which builds on prior reporting at WSJ. “The Journal reported in 2020 that Facebook had chosen not to ban the Bajrang Dal, citing risk to Facebook's business prospects in India.” /9 Jason Kint / @jason_kint : It's almost as if Facebook doesn't connect its amplification and reach velocity to the heightened risk on the platform. Any responsible actor would insert speed bumps and friction bringing in human review. Instead Facebook inserted white lists as we already learned. /5 https://t.co/mVggraLYE1 Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Side note: it's remarkable Perrigo knows Facebook is a “tier one” nation yet Facebook's Global Safety Director who works for a guy who works for Joel Kaplan didn't know same classification for the UK last week when testifying to - wait for it - the UK Online Safety Committee. /8 https://twitter.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : We can't move on - we can't be gaslit, we can't let Facebook trade access to the future to change the narrative. Time dropped a new bombshell report overnight on Facebook and India that is a must-read. It's by Billy Perrigo who has been doing incredible accountability work. /1 Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Instead we see very familiar statements like this in the reporting, “Facebook only removed the video of Saraswati calling for Hindus to eradicate Muslims after TIME asked about it in late October.” /6 Jason Kint / @jason_kint : At India's scale, WSJ's prior reporting of conflicts of internet with their government and Facebook's dependency on the region for growth, the numbers are absolutely frightening scale combined with Facebook's algorithmic amplification putting profits first. /4 https://twitter.com/... @foundationtls : Over the course of this year we have as @billyperrigo mentioned in the story, several times tried to engage with @Meta /Facebook on toxic Hindutva pages which have gathered over 1 billion video views. Several of these videos asking for extermination of Indian Muslims.1/n https://twitter.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Some of the reporting connects back to the whistleblower documents that should still be very much front and center leading to more reporting. Yes, they knew it broke their own policies, more on that at the end. /2 https://twitter.com/... @sarangsspeaks : Facebook allowed Islamophobia despite employees' warnings. BJP is dividing society by spreading Islamophobia for winning elections. The ruling government is using Facebook for spreading hatred. #facebookwhistleblower #ReligiousFreedomForAll https://time.com/...
The incidents and videos cited in the Time report have massive numbers of views and absolutely horrific examples of hate and inciting violence many of which have been promoted and provided viral velocity and reach by Facebook's platform. /3 https://twitter.com/...
Facebook will air ads on TV in the US promoting body diversity, etc., but does virtually nothing to stop its platforms from being used to foment anti-Muslim hate and organize deadly pogroms in India. India is Facebook's largest market and it's ruled by a Hindu extremist party. ht…
“Allowed it to continue” is an understatement.....they have literally banned people who have spoken out against this, while those blatantly spreading hate are given blue ticks. https://twitter.com/...
The documents suggest that “political sensitivities” are part of the reason that Facebook has chosen not to ban Hindu nationalist groups who are close to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). https://time.com/...
What @billyperrigo didn't spell out, #Facebook is purely driven by profits in 3rd world sans any morality. Admittedly @Zuckerberg has figured out, hate speech ensures maximum viewing & Ad revenue & if promoted by ruling BJP fringes then so much better. https://time.com/...
Facebook is aware of the danger and prevalence of the Love Jihad conspiracy theory on its platform but has done little to act on it, according to internal Facebook documents seen by TIME, @billyperrigo reports. https://time.com/...
We will be releasing a 3 part public brief documenting hate-speech in India. The first of the 3 part dossier was crowd-sourced by volunteers from TLS, @IAMCouncil and @indiacivilwatch who followed Facebook's algorithms 2/n https://thelondonstory.org/...
@billyperrigo Facebook has allowed its platform to be misused for spread of hate. In India, level is such that in each & every aspect of life innumerable pages that ‘subtly’ spread hate, apart from thousands of big pages that ‘directly’ do it. ‘Reporting’ doesn't work. Destroying…
Is it any of Facebook's business to interfere in what people discuss unless legal authorities declare that speech illegal and file a criminal cease and desist order ? https://twitter.com/...
Rare reportage on Facebook's conduct that doesn't absolve it with wimp words like “dilemma” and “challenge” the company supposedly faces in India, but calls it out for what it's really doing - collaborate with bloodthirsty supremacists. By @billyperrigo https://time.com/...
Another strong piece of reporting that demonstrates how Facebook leadership has turned a blind eye to hate on its platform. Employees flagged an Islamophobia conspiracy theory, but then leadership refused to take action. We must #StopHateForProfit. https://time.com/...
I'll add a connection to end of this thread earlier. Facebook is in a PR and policy war right now. If you're treating not building off what we already know, you're working vs accountability, civil society. If you're doing footsie interviews with them, you're trading access. /11 h…
FB's inaction on “Love Jihad” content at a time when people are being murdered for interfaith marriages is a reminder that everything is negotiable — and that the India operation's reporting structure gives it a long leash. https://time.com/...
The kicker is at the very end of this Time report which builds on prior reporting at WSJ. “The Journal reported in 2020 that Facebook had chosen not to ban the Bajrang Dal, citing risk to Facebook's business prospects in India.” /9
It's almost as if Facebook doesn't connect its amplification and reach velocity to the heightened risk on the platform. Any responsible actor would insert speed bumps and friction bringing in human review. Instead Facebook inserted white lists as we already learned. /5 https://t.…
Side note: it's remarkable Perrigo knows Facebook is a “tier one” nation yet Facebook's Global Safety Director who works for a guy who works for Joel Kaplan didn't know same classification for the UK last week when testifying to - wait for it - the UK Online Safety Committee. /8 …
We can't move on - we can't be gaslit, we can't let Facebook trade access to the future to change the narrative. Time dropped a new bombshell report overnight on Facebook and India that is a must-read. It's by Billy Perrigo who has been doing incredible accountability work. /1
Instead we see very familiar statements like this in the reporting, “Facebook only removed the video of Saraswati calling for Hindus to eradicate Muslims after TIME asked about it in late October.” /6
At India's scale, WSJ's prior reporting of conflicts of internet with their government and Facebook's dependency on the region for growth, the numbers are absolutely frightening scale combined with Facebook's algorithmic amplification putting profits first. /4 https://twitter.com…
Over the course of this year we have as @billyperrigo mentioned in the story, several times tried to engage with @Meta /Facebook on toxic Hindutva pages which have gathered over 1 billion video views. Several of these videos asking for extermination of Indian Muslims.1/n https://…
Some of the reporting connects back to the whistleblower documents that should still be very much front and center leading to more reporting. Yes, they knew it broke their own policies, more on that at the end. /2 https://twitter.com/...
Facebook allowed Islamophobia despite employees' warnings. BJP is dividing society by spreading Islamophobia for winning elections. The ruling government is using Facebook for spreading hatred. #facebookwhistleblower #ReligiousFreedomForAll https://time.com/...