'BJP controls Facebook' — Rahul Gandhi attacks Centre citing Wall Street Journal report

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cooked up quite a storm on August 16 by sharing a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that alleged Facebook and WhatsApp are controlled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and their fringe group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in India.

Rahul shared the newspaper clipping on Twitter and wrote: “BJP and RSS control Facebook and WhatsApp in India. They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate. Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook.”

BJP & RSS control Facebook & Whatsapp in India.

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They spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate.

Finally, the American media has come out with the truth about Facebook. pic.twitter.com/Y29uCQjSRP

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 16, 2020

The Congress party has reportedly also sought a parliamentary panel probe into the allegations levelled against Facebook’s India chapter regarding favourable treatment towards the BJP.

In response to Congress allegations of social media manipulation backed by the WSJ article, the BJP reminded the former of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that had left the Congress party red-faced three years ago.

Dubbing the Congress leaders “losers”, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted: “You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us?”

Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by BJP & RSS.

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You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica & Facebook to weaponise data before the elections & now have the gall to question us? https://t.co/NloUF2WZVY

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) August 16, 2020

The article titled “Facebook Hate-Speech Rules Collide With Indian Politics” had alleged that a top Facebook India official had told staffers to not punish violations by BJP members as it “would damage the company’s business prospects in the country, Facebook’s biggest global market by the number of users.”