Denying that it has shared user data with American intelligence agencies, Facebook, Inc. has submitted before the Delhi High Court that it implemented comprehensive standards and undertook many initiatives to curb “hate speech and fake news” and other types of “harmful” content on its platform. US-based technology firm Google LLC termed as “false and baseless” the allegation that the company has unlawfully accessed personal data of Indian citizens. The submissions were made before a bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon, who heard a PIL by former RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya, seeking removal of fake news and hate speech from online platforms. The HC had earlier issued notice to the Home Affairs, Finance, and Information Technology ministries, besides Facebook, Google and Twitter India. The Centre and Twitter India are yet to respond. Govindacharya’s counsel Virag Gupta has contended that the three platforms be directed to disclose information about their designated officers in India as per rules. He submitted that while the government interacts with social media firms, the latter claim to have no presence in India and maintain that they do business through their foreign parent company. The court will hear the matter next on September 16.
