FB India under Ankhi Das went soft on militant Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal to save business: WSJ report
This report was first published in www.jantakareporter.com and has been posted here without any alterations or editing. To read the original report, CLICK HERE
In a new revelation, America’s Wall Street Journal has reported that Facebook had gone soft on Hindu militant outfit Bajrang Dal, to protect its staff and business interests in India. This was even after Facebook’s own safety team concluded that the militant Hindu organisation with ties with the ruling BJP had supported violence against minorities across India. The safety team had even concluded Bajrang Dal qualified as a ‘dangerous organisation’ and should be banned from its social media platform.
This was after the Hindu radical outfit claimed responsibility for the attack on a Delhi church through a video that clocked more than 2,50,000 views on Facebook.
Facebook’s safety team also advised against taking coercive action against two other militant Hindu outfits namely Sanatan Sanstha and Sri Ram Sena. The WSJ report added that a group of Facebook’s employees had stated in an internal letter and posts on Facebook discussion groups that the presence of ‘Bajrang Dal on its platform, among other organizations, casts doubt on the company’s commitment to tackle hate speech in India.’
Reacting to the WSJ’s revelation, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone was quoted as saying, “We enforce our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy globally without regard to political position or party affiliation.”
Facebook has been at the centre of huge controversy this year after it was revealed that its lobbyist and India policy director Ankhi Das had promoted Islamophobia using her Facebook account when she called Indian Muslims a traditionally ‘degenerate community.’ The WSJ had alleged in August that Das had stopped Facebook from taking action against a known BJP hatemonger, Raja Singh, when he issued a call for mass violence against Muslims.
A group of Facebook employees had written an open letter on the company’s internal platform demanding answers to some tough questions on ‘anti-Muslim bigotry’ promoted by the India team under Ankhi Das. The letter had also demanded diverse representation in Facebook’s ‘policy team in India (and elsewhere).’
Faced with growing outrage both within the organisation and outside, Das had decided to step down from her post in October this year. Incidentally, Ankhi Das was at the helm of Facebook’s policy decision making when a decision was taken to go soft on Bajrang Dal.
Courtesy: www.jantakareporter.com
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Stock markets rebound after Monday's crash: Sensex jumps 1,089 pts tracking firm global trends
Mumbai, Apr 8 (PTI): Stock markets rebounded sharply on Tuesday, a day after facing the worst drubbing in 10 months, as benchmark Sensex recouped 1,089 points after across-the-board buying amid a rally in Asian and European markets.
Snapping its three-day decline, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,089.18 points or 1.49 per cent to settle at 74,227.08 with 29 of its components ending in the green. During the day, it climbed 1,721.49 points or 2.35 per cent to 74,859.39.
The NSE Nifty surged 374.25 points or 1.69 per cent to 22,535.85, snapping the three-day losing run. Intra-day, the benchmark soared 535.6 points or 2.41 per cent to 22,697.20.
Sensex tanked 2,226.79 points or 2.95 per cent and Nifty tumbled 742.85 points or 3.24 per cent, marking their worst single day decline in 10 months as global equity markets went into a tailspin on recession fears after US tariff war.
"Positive global market cues aided massive recovery in local benchmarks, as concerns over US trade tariffs faded a bit on hopes that most of the nations would work out ways to overcome the challenge. With India largely being a consumption-led economy, the US tariff impact may not hurt the country in a major way when compared to some of the other nations," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
All Sensex firms, except Power Grid, ended in the positive territory. Titan, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints and Zomato were the biggest gainers.
World markets also staged a comeback after Monday's collapse.
In Asian markets, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Shanghai SSE Composite index and South Korea's Kospi settled in the positive territory after falling sharply on Monday. Nikkei 225 index jumped 6 per cent.
European markets were quoting higher. US markets ended mostly lower on Monday.
The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 2.18 per cent and midcap index surged 1.87 per cent.
All BSE sectoral indices ended higher.
Oil & Gas index jumped the most by 2.58 per cent, followed by consumer durables (2.38 per cent), telecommunication (2.32 per cent), industrials (2.04 per cent), energy (2.03 per cent), consumer discretionary (2.02 per cent), teck (1.97 per cent), healthcare (1.94 per cent) and IT (1.77 per cent).
As many as 3,093 stocks advanced while 871 declined and 119 remained unchanged on the BSE.
"Following positive global cues, led by the interest of many nations to enter into bilateral agreements with the US, the domestic market witnessed a recovery," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 9,040.01 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 12,122.45 crore, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.22 per cent to USD 64.35 a barrel.
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty logged their worst single-day decline in 10 months on Monday, as fears that Trump's policies on reciprocal tariffs may lead to recession and higher inflation in the US going ahead unnerved investors.
