TMC MP O'Brien writes to Zuckerberg alleging link between Facebook and BJP

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O'Brien has written a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg alleging that there is a link between Facebook and the BJP.

"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," O'Brien wrote.

"A few years ago, I had expressed to you my concerns on some of these issues and urged you, in the interest of transparency, to investigate these serious charges against Facebook's senior management in India. Please do all it takes to urgently work towards maintaining the integrity of your platform in the Indian electoral process." he added.

At the beginning of the letter, O'Brien stated, "We, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), India's second-largest opposition party, have had serious concerns about Facebook's role during the 2014 and 2019 General Elections in India."

"After careful consideration, the AITC raised this issue in June 2019 in a forum no less than the Parliament of India. This was done during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address. We are enclosing the relevant portion (video) of that Parliamentary speech, along with this letter," he added.

"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 further wrote in his letter.

(ANI)

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