This means social media giant believes India is potentially as bad as Myanmar and Sri Lanka where Facebook has been used to ignite and sustain inter-religious violence.

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, this year the social-media company’s safety team deemed Bajrang Dal supported violence against minorities across India and likely qualified as a “dangerous organisation” that should be banned from the platform.

However Facebook hasn’t taken any action to remove the groups from Facebook because internal security audit teams at the company believe that this may anger these groups and they may target business, offices and Facebook staff in India.

The WSJ report believes that such conflicting concerns underscore the struggle Facebook faces in curbing hate speech that spread like a wild fire through the platform. Facebook has recently invested $5.7 billion in a new retail venture in India which makes the issue more difficult because a lot of groups and people indulging in it are close to the ruling party BJP.

The social- media company fears strict actions against such hate-mongering group will impact their business. However, the WSJ was told by a Facebook spokesperson that the company’s policy on hate speech is not influenced by political or business reasons. Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone told the WSJ, “We enforce our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy globally without regard to a political position or party affiliation.”

This is not the first time Facebook is dragging its feet on tackling hate speech in a country. The company has come under fire for not acting against hate speech in nations like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Two years ago investigators from United Nations cited Facebook for facilitating hate speech in Myanmar, helping fuel the sectarian violence against Rohingyas.

Several months ago, Facebook was in spotlight in India for all the wrong reasons as it was reported that its then India Policy Ankhi Das stopped staffers from taking action against hate speech by BJP politicians. Facebook refuted the report, but in late October Ankhi Das left the company saying she wanted to “pursue public service interests”.

Facebook’s India MD Ajit Mohan has been called for a hearing by a Delhi government committee that is looking into the use of social media during riots earlier in the year. However, Mohan has refused to appear before the committee and has challenged the Delhi government directives in the Supreme Court.

The post Facebook fears India on the verge of high social violence appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, UAE’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, signed the Joint Communique on behalf of the UAE, while Kyaw Moe Tun, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, signed on behalf of his country.

The Joint Communique affirms the common interest of both countries to promote mutual understanding and strengthen friendship and cooperation in the political, economic, and social spheres.

Ambassador Nusseibeh expressed the UAE’s keenness to collaborate with Myanmar, including through ASEAN, to unlock future partnerships in serving the aspirations of the region’s countries and peoples.

After the signing, both sides discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and explored opportunities for cooperation at the UN. They discussed the situation of the Rohingya and the need for opening channels of communication. The Rohingya issue that is a matter of priority for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which the UAE currently chairs.

Ambassador Tun thanked the UAE for the five metric tonnes of medical aid that the UAE sent to Myanmar to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He also thanked the UAE for its assistance and cooperation during Myanmar’s general elections, when the Gulf country had ensured that Myanmarese citizens residing in the UAE were able to cast ballots.

The post UAE, Myanmar establish diplomatic relations appeared first on The Gulf Indians.