Facebook in India
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Allegations of political bias
2020
Anam Ajmal, September 1, 2020: The Times of India
A report in the Wall Street Journal newspaper claims that a day before the BJP swept to victory in the 2014 general elections, Facebook public policy head in India, Ankhi Das, sent out an internal message to the company’s employees writing, “We lit a fire to his social media campaign and the rest is of course history.” Facebook, however, said that the posts were taken “out of context”.
Das, who has been in the middle of a political storm for allegedly “favouring” the ruling dispensation, had also “disparaged” the BJP’s main rival, Congress. “It’s taken thirty years of grassroots work to rid India of state socialism finally,” she wrote on the party’s defeat. The WSJ examined messages posted in an internal group between 2012 and 2014. In one of them, she praised the PM as the “strongman” who had broken the former ruling party’s hold. Facebook said the posts by Das don’t show inappropriate bias.
Pro-BJP posts taken out of context: FB
These posts are taken out of context and don’t represent the full scope of Facebook’s efforts to support the use of our platform by parties across the Indian political spectrum,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone told WSJ.
According to the WSJ report, Facebook also “declined to act after discovering that BJP was circumventing its political ad transparency requirements”. Facebook rules require advertisers to verify their identities and disclose them to users. But in addition to buying Facebook ads in its own name, BJP was also found to “have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars through newly created organisations that didn’t disclose the party’s role”. Facebook, however, did not take down the pages or flag the ads. “Instead, it privately raised the matter with BJP, according to former employees in both India and the US, where the decision was discussed,” the article states.
Regarding the violation of political advertising rules, Stone said that Facebook decided not to act after concluding that its rules hadn’t been specific enough. He also added that it “has decided to review that decision following the Journal’s questions this past week.”
The latest article also claims that when Das joined Facebook in 2011, “the social media giant was eager to demonstrate its utility in politics”. So, it rolled out training for several Indian political parties on how best to use the platform to mobilise supporters, and Modi’s team adopted the training early on. In October 2012, Das referred to the training provided to BJP in Gujarat and wrote, “Success in our Gujarat Campaign,” while noting that the campaign was close to reaching a million fans on the platform.
In 2013 in another internal post, she described Modi as “the George W Bush of India” to her colleague Katie Harbath, who is the top global elections official at Facebook. Das described Harbath as her “longest fellow traveller”, who helped her in the Gujarat campaign. Facebook said it offered similar meetings and training to other parties.
According to the WSJ, when Modi was declared the PM candidate, “Das made her sentiments on the race clear”. “When a fellow staffer noted in response to one of her internal posts that BJP’s primary opponent, Congress, had a larger following on Facebook than Modi’s individual page, Ms. Das responded: “Don’t diminish him by comparing him with INC. Ah well—let my bias not show,” the article states.
Govt requests for FB data
2017: India 2nd globally
Govt requests for FB data on the rise, India 2nd globally, May 17, 2018: The Times of India
From: Govt requests for FB data on the rise, India 2nd globally, May 17, 2018: The Times of India
Most Requests Related To Criminal Investigations: Report
India made over 12,000 requests for data from Facebook between July and December 2017. Facebook complied with some or all data in 53% of these requests. The data requests were up by 23.5% from the first half of 2017, when the government made 9,853 requests.
India ranked second globally to the US, which made the maximum number of requests for data at 32,742. Facebook revealed these numbers in their biannual transparency report on Tuesday.
These requests cover Facebook and its other products like WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Oculus. “Government officials sometimes make requests for data about people who use Facebook as part of official investigations. A vast majority of these requests relate to criminal cases, such as robberies or kidnappings. In many of these cases, these government requests seek basic subscriber information, such as name, registration date and length of service,” says Facebook describing the nature of the requests.
Facebook has over 201 million monthly active users in India, and over 234 million in the US.
The company also released data on “internet disruptions” or “intentional restrictions on connectivity” which impacted availability of its services. India topped the charts with 14 shutdowns or disruptions between July-December 2017. Iraq was second with nine and Turkey third with six internet disruptions. Possible reasons for such “disruptions” include internet shutdown ordered by government or suspension of web services.
United kingdom was a distant third in the number of requests made for data, at 7,455. Among the countries with the least number of requests was Russia, at six requests between July-December 2017. None of these requests were complied with. Pakistan made 1,320 requests and got responses for 59% of those.
Number of users
2017: 201 million users in India
Kim Arora|India has the most FB users: Report|Jul 15 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
A recent report claims that India has overtaken the United States in total number of Facebook users, becoming the social networking giant's top country by user base. The report pegs Indian users at 241 million, a shade ahead of the Unites States' 240 million. However, Facebook has contradicted the number, claiming the “monthly active“ users or those who log in at least once a month in India stands at 201million.
The report on technology news website The Next Web cited numbers reported to advertisers by Facebook. Citing slides from social media management platform Hootsuite and social media marketing and advertising agency We Are Social, it claims that India has 241 million “active“ users, while the US stands at 240 million. Brazil is reported to stand a distant third with 139 million “active“ users.
When contacted to confirm the TNW report, a Face firm the TNW report, a Facebook spokesperson told TOI over email: “Facebook has 201 million monthly active users in India.“ In its first quarter earnings call in May this year, Facebook reported 234 million MAUs for USA and Canada together. Splitting the numbers between the two countries, it is possible that India indeed has taken over USA in number of Facebook users by now a development Facebook has not confirmed.
Just last month, Facebook reported reaching the two billion mark in monthly active users. The number game here is tricky.“Active“ users are different from registered users, who may or may not log in with any amount of regularity .
A registered but inactive user is of little value to advertisers. Active users are mea sured variously as “daily active“ or “monthly active“.These log in at least one a day or once a month respectively . Typically, for any social media platform, the number of monthly active users or MAUs as they are called, is significantly higher than the number of daily active users or DAUs.
An important caveat from TNW contributor Simon Kemp explains the discrepancy in numbers. “It's worth noting that the numbers Facebook reports to advertisers can change on a daily basis though, and the platform even reported a slight dip in global user numbers just before it announced its two billion active user milestone,“ says Kemp in the TNW article. Which is to say , that the numbers for the earnings call and those reported to advertisers are measured differently .
Helping Indians
2018: preventing suicides
Alerted by Facebook headquarters in the US, police rescued a minor girl in Assam who had expressed her wish to commit suicide in a post on the social media platform.
"The Facebook headquarters on Monday informed the state police that a minor girl was contemplating suicide. The state police reacted promptly and saved the girl," said DGP Kuladhar Saikia.
"The girl had written 'I am gonna commit suicide today' on Facebook. She and her family have been counselled and the girl has been advised to remove her post," said an official.
In January, a minor boy from Azara, on the city outskirts, had issued a similar threat. "The boy had posted a video showing some cuts on his hand while threatening to kill himself if his parents don't give him an expensive digital camera. After being alerted by Facebook authorities, police rescued him," said a police source.
See also
Facebook in India
