New Delhi, August 31:  Another controversy erupted after reports that Facebook India executive Ankhi Das posted messages of her support for BJP for several years on a Facebook group of the company’s employees and detailed efforts to help the party win the 2014 national election. This was seen by some staff as conflicting with the company’s pledge to remain neutral in elections around the world, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

In one of the messages, Das had posted the day before Narendra Modi swept to victory in India’s 2014 national elections: “We lit a fire to his social media campaign and the rest is of course history.” Facebook Officials, Including Ankhi Das, to be Summoned by Delhi Government’s Peace and Harmony Committee For 'Ignoring Hate Speeches of BJP Leaders'.

Here are some tweets by members of the opposition parties criticising Das:

Mahua Moitra's tweet:

Here's what Gaurav Pandhi tweeted about the WSJ report

Check Priyanka Chaturvedi's tweet:

Das is the company’s policy director for India and South and Central Asia and has been at the centre of widespread criticism Facebook faced after WSJ’s previous report revealed she had opposed applying hate-speech rules to some Hindu nationalist individuals and groups, as well as posts by a BJP politician. The report mentioned that Das had told staff members that punishing violations by politicians from Modi’s party “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 31, 2020 11:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).