Government seeks details of Facebook algorithms and deals with them amid hate speech allegations: sources

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NEW DELHI: Amid allegations that Facebook’s system is fueling hate speech and fake news, the government has asked the U.S. social media giant to provide details on the algorithms and processes it uses, said sources familiar with the matter. The Ministry of Electronics and Informatics (MeITY) has reportedly requested clarification from the platform following recent revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen. These revelations have raised fears that Facebook has done little to shake off its culture of “growth at any cost” which has accelerated its rise to capture 2.91 billion monthly active users globally, including more than 400 million in India. Researchers at the social media giant had pointed out that there were groups and pages “filled with inflammatory and deceptive anti-Muslim content” on its platform, according to US media reports. According to sources familiar with the development, MeitY wrote to Facebook requesting information about the algorithms and processes used by the platform. The government has also asked Facebook to provide details on measures taken to protect users, they added. When contacted, Facebook declined to comment. Haugen, an employee of Facebook’s integrity team until May 2021, disclosed tens of thousands of internal documents, many of which came from employee chat sites, company presentations and research papers , who exposed the inner workings of Facebook. She suggested that Facebook made changes to its “dangerous” algorithms that contributed to the division in the company, and realized those adjustments were preventing people from coming back to the platform. She also filed eight complaints against the company with the US securities regulator. The latest revelations are gaining momentum as the social media giant has been in the spotlight for many years for not doing enough to curb hate speech on its platform and protect its users’ data. Facebook, in turn, has sought to portray Haugen as a junior employee who chooses to fit her own narrative, with little knowledge of some of the issues she has taken a stand on. On Saturday, the New York Times said that in February 2019, a Facebook researcher created a new user account to examine what the social media website will look like for someone living in Kerala. For the next three weeks, the account followed all of the recommendations generated by Facebook’s algorithms to join groups, watch videos, and explore new pages on the site. The result was documented in an internal Facebook report that showed a fight against disinformation, hate speech and celebrations of violence in the country, the company’s largest market, according to the NYT report. The documents are part of a larger collection of documents collected by Haugen, who recently testified before the Senate about the company and its platforms. A Facebook spokesperson said Facebook has halved the number of hate speech people see around the world this year. According to data cited by the Indian government earlier this year, there are 53 crore of WhatsApp users, 41 crore of Facebook subscribers and 21 crore of Instagram account holders in the country. It is relevant to mention here that India implemented new rules on IT intermediaries earlier this year, with the aim of increasing the accountability of big tech companies, notably Twitter and Facebook. The rules require social media platforms to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and put in place a robust redress mechanism with a country-based agent. Social media companies are required to remove posts depicting nudity or processed photos within 24 hours of receiving a complaint. Large social media companies – those with more than 50 lakhs of users – are also required to publish a monthly compliance report that discloses details of complaints received and actions taken, as well as details of content proactively removed. According to sources, the Ministry of Informatics will soon publish a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) around the interim guidelines in order to allow a better understanding of the objectives and provisions of the new rules among different stakeholders, including users. Minister of State for Electronics and Computing, Rajeev Chandrasekhar is spearheading the proposed FAQ initiative. The FAQs will lead to the overall goal of ensuring that the Indian Internet is considered safe for consumers and attractive for investment by investors, the sources added. Simply put, the FAQ would include questions people ask about the rules and aim to make it easier for users to understand internet and social media standards in India. Generally, questions can range from what the guidelines mean to the public and intermediaries, how they protect users, who to turn to in the event of a complaint, and the role of compliance and grievance officers. It will also raise awareness of user rights and platform obligations.

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