Civil Society questions Facebook

Civil Society questions Facebook

The social networking platform is seemingly not respecting the rights of India

A consortium of 25 civil society organizations had sent a letter to Facebook (now Meta) early last year. It was against the delayed release of the India Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) report and lack of action towards addressing grave concerns about the company's human rights in India.

The letter was sent to Facebook's Director of Human Rights, Miranda Sissons. It reminded the company that the HRIA was an important way through which the company could evaluate its role in spreading hate speech and inciting violence on its services in India.

India is Facebook's largest market. The reports of whistleblowers including Frances Haugen, Sophie Zhang and former Facebook Vice President Brian Boland, have made it clear that Facebook's platform has been used to target Muslims and other minorities in India.

The organizations stated, "The current perception is that Facebook is not committed to respecting the rights in this case. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are clear that transparency is a key aspect of human rights due diligence. In order to account for how they address human rights impacts, companies should be prepared to communicate this externally, particularly when concerns are raised by or on behalf of the affected stakeholders."

In 2020, Facebook had commissioned the law firm, Foley Hoag, to conduct a an HRIA for India. It was reported recently that the civil society had apprehensions about Facebook narrowing the scope of the report by making technical objections and demanding more data.

Meanwhile, Facebook has yet to respond to the letter or issue any date for the full publication of the HRIA report.