TMC MP Derek O’Brien writes to Mark Zuckerberg, raises issue of alleged bias of Facebook towards BJP

Party MP Derek O'Brien, who has written the letter to Zuckerberg also makes a reference to an earlier meeting between the two, where some of these concerns were raised.

TMC MP Derek O'Brien (File)

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg alleging bias in the social networking site’s blocking of accounts in poll-bound Bengal which, he said, “points to” its link with the BJP.

The Rajya Sabha MP said he had expressed similar concerns to Zuckerberg a few years ago as well. “Please do all it takes to urgently work towards maintaining the integrity of your platform in the Indian electoral process,” he wrote.

O’Brien wrote that the party has serious concerns about Facebook’s role during the 2014 and 2019 general elections. “With the elections in the Indian state of West Bengal just months away, your company’s recent blocking of Facebook pages and accounts in Bengal also points to the link between Facebook and the BJP. There is enough material now in the public domain, including internal memos of senior Facebook management, to substantiate the bias,” he said.

“We were optimistic that the issues and concerns we raised on the floor of Parliament 14 months ago would empower other political parties and the media to also address this substantive issue. The recent series of articles that appeared in the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Time Magazine and others, vindicate our stand,” O’Brien wrote.

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