Facebook has more users in India than anywhere else. It’s now dealing with a hate speech crisis

San Francisco CNN Business — Facebook is facing multiple simultaneous controversies in the United States, particularly around disinformation, hate speech and political bias. The committee said Facebook declined to appear, arguing that regulating tech platforms is under the “exclusive authority” of India’s national government. The company’s representatives were also questioned about allegations of hate speech and political bias by an Indian parliamentary committee earlier this month, with the head of the committee, opposition politician Shashi Tharoor, tweeting that they had “unanimously agreed to resume the discussion later.” Facebook said after the hearing that it would “remain committed to be an open and transparent platform.” The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Facebook allowed a politician from India’s ruling party to remain on its platform even though his anti-Muslim posts flouted its rules against hate speech. “We investigate each issue carefully… before we take action or go out and make claims publicly as a company.” Facebook has faced accusations of failing to adequately curb hate speech in several of India’s neighbors, including Sri Lanka and Myanmar, where the company acknowledged two years ago that it was “too slow” to prevent the spread of “hate and misinformation” that led to widespread violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Unfortunately they also control companies’ access to markets, and India is a big market for Facebook,” said Chinmayi Arun, a fellow at Yale Law School whose work focuses on internet governance.