Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee has served a fresh notice for appearance to Facebook India vice president and managing director Ajit Mohan for deposing before the panel on September 23 in connection with its probe into allegations of bias against the social media giant with regard to acting against hate content.
The committee said that any defiance to the notice for appearance shall be deemed to be an act of breach of constitutionally guaranteed privileges of the panel. It said that on account of non-appearance of the Facebook official before it on the previous date of meeting, a final warning has been issued to the social media platform. Mohan had been called as a witness to depose before the committee on September 15.
Overriding jurisdiction of the Union government was cited as a reason for objecting to the notice for appearance. The committee, however, felt it was a sly attempt to evade responsibility and conceal facts.
It was unanimously decided by the members of the committee present in the last meeting that in the event of subsequent default, it shall be constrained to invoke its power to initiate breach of privilege proceedings against Facebook India unit and thus inviting penal jurisdiction of the house among other action.
“Frivolous technical grounds cited by Facebook smacks of premeditated attempt to non-cooperation and ill-assistance with the proceedings in the committee. Reasons cited were demonstrably unsustainable and erroneous in nature. The committee is well within its jurisdiction to call and examine the Facebook officials before it,” said MLA Raghav Chadha, who heads the committee.
Chadha said Facebook must honour the proceedings taking place under the Delhi’s state legislature in the same manner as they did in the case of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, before which Mohan had appeared.
It was also noted by the committee that despite being crystal clear about the objective behind calling Facebook officials, which on the face of it is distinguishable from that of the Parliamentary committee, Facebook chose to dishonour the powers and privileges of the committee in the garb of obliging with the directives of the Parliamentary Committee.
Chadha clarified that the notice of appearance issued to Facebook is directly related to incidents of violence or riots that occurred in Delhi in February 2020, whereas the proceedings in Parliament are on the subject of 'Safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space'.
According to the committee, summons were issued to Mohan on the basis of scathing depositions made by key witnesses as well as incriminating material submitted by them on record with regard to Facebook's alleged bias in dealing with hate content and especially with regard to its alleged role in the February riots.
