A top Facebook executive has alleged that she has received life threats from a number of people through online posts. According to news agency ANI, Ankhi Das has filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell Unit of Delhi Police against unidentified people for issuing violent life threats through online posting/publishing of content.
Ankhi Das is public policy director, Facebook, for India, South and Central Asia since 2011.
Das, 49, has submitted a written complaint to the Delhi Police Cyber Cell on Sunday night. The Facebook executive alleged that a number of people have been issuing “violent threats against my life and body through online posting/publishing of content”. An FIR is yet to be registered.
A senior Delhi Police officer told The Indian Express, “The complaint has been received and the matter is under inquiry.”
Das said that the threats are in relation to The Wall Street Journal article, titled ‘Facebook hate speech rules collide with Indian politics’ which was published on August 14.
A major controversy has erupted over the report which alleged that Facebook flouted its own rules in taking action against BJP leaders over hate speech and controversial posts being circulated on Facebook.
The report said that Ankhi Das told staff that ‘punishing violations’ by BJP politicians ‘would damage the company’s business prospects’ in the country. For Facebook, India is the biggest market in terms of number of users.
The report also referred to an alleged hate-speech shared by Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh against the minorities. It cited ‘current and former’ Facebook employees as saying that Ankhi Das’s intervention is part of a broader pattern of favouritism by the company towards the BJP.