NEW DELHI: Delhi summoned Facebook’s India chief Saturday to answer allegations that the social media giant failed to remove dangerous content in its biggest market globally.
India is the US-based firm and its messaging service WhatsApp’s biggest market in terms of users, and the company is under pressure worldwide over the policing of hate speech.
Facebook has been embroiled in a huge row in India after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in August that the site failed to take down anti-Muslim comments by a politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in order to protect its business interests.
The Delhi Assembly panel on peace and harmony said Saturday it would investigate evidence — described by the committee as “incriminating material on record” — submitted by four prominent journalists and digital rights activists.
The committee has asked Ajit Mohan, the managing director of Facebook India, to appear before it on September 15 to determine the “veracity of allegations” made by the group.
It follows US civil rights groups claiming last week that the firm had failed to address hateful content in India and demanded that its India policy chief, Ankhi Das, be removed.
Facebook has denied any political bias but admitted it has to do better to curb hate speech.
The panel — headed by Raghav Chadha, a lawmaker with a party rivalling Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s BJP — also said the firm should be probed over its “alleged role and complicity” in the sectarian Delhi riots in February.
Around 50 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the worst unrest in years between India’s majority Hindus and minority Muslims.
After the furor over the WSJ’s August report, Facebook blocked T. Raja Singh, a BJP lawmaker who had said Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar should be shot.
Singh told said he would fight the ban and that Facebook’s action was an attack on BJP.
Delhi summons top Indian Facebook official over hateful content
https://arab.news/2xx9p
Delhi summons top Indian Facebook official over hateful content
- Facebook has been embroiled in a huge row in India
- Social media giant denies any political bias but admitted it has to do better to curb hate speech
Pro-Palestinian group to proceed with London march despite ‘discriminatory’ police ban
- Met Police have upheld a ban on Jan. 18 rally despite Palestinian Solidarity Campaign proposing alternative route
- Group rejects claim that supporters encouraged people to defy police-imposed conditions
LONDON: The organizers of a planned pro-Palestine demonstration outside the BBC’s London headquarters have labeled a police decision to block the march as “discriminatory” and announced their intention to proceed with the event on Jan. 18.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, which is organizing the march, made the announcement on Tuesday following a meeting with London’s Metropolitan Police.
In a statement, the group accused the authorities of deliberately seeking to prevent their protest outside the BBC. “The police have made abundantly clear that the real aim is to block us from protesting at the BBC under any circumstances,” the PSC said.
The Met had previously announced its decision to ban the march, citing security concerns after consultations with local business owners and religious leaders who raised objections to the demonstration’s proximity to a synagogue.
The PSC has repeatedly denied that its marches — which are regularly attended by Jewish groups — pose any threat to the Jewish community.
To address the police’s concerns, the PSC proposed reversing the original route, and suggested that the march begin at Whitehall and avoid the synagogue’s Shabbat service, which ends at 1 p.m., before finishing at Portland Place.
However, the group said that police rejected the proposal and instead introduced “new and dubious justifications” for the ban. The PSC also accused authorities of falsely claiming that “influential supporters and organizers” of the march had encouraged attendees to defy police-imposed conditions.
Over the weekend, hundreds of political, cultural and social figures voiced their support for the right to demonstrate in solidarity with Palestine.
A letter organized by a Jewish bloc that regularly takes part in pro-Palestine marches gathered more than 700 signatures from members of the Jewish community.
The PSC said its protest is rooted in frustration over “the complicity of the BBC, which has failed to report the facts of this genocide,” adding that the police have “no legitimate grounds” to block the march.
It remains unclear how the situation will unfold on Saturday or whether an agreement will be reached to avoid potential disruption or police intervention.
In a statement to Arab News on Wednesday, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that there were no updates, highlighting that the police’s position “still stands” based on earlier statements.
PSC media officer Bhavesh Hindocha described the situation as “fluid,” adding that changes could occur up to the day of the march.
“We intend to march from Whitehall towards the BBC, as close as we can depending on police conditions,” he said.
TikTok calls report of possible sale to Musk’s X ‘pure fiction’
- Rumors circulated Monday that TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is considering selling the platform’s US operations to Elon Musk’s social media platform, X
- Congress legislation could force TikTok to divest its US operations, requiring its parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the platform or shut it down
NEW YORK: TikTok on Tuesday labeled as “pure fiction” a report that China is exploring a potential sale of the video-sharing platform’s US operations to billionaire Elon Musk as the firm faces an American law requiring imminent Chinese divestment.
Citing anonymous people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News had earlier reported that Chinese officials were considering selling the company’s US operations to Musk’s social media platform X.
The report outlined one scenario being discussed in Beijing where X would purchase TikTok from Chinese owner ByteDance and combine it with the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told AFP.
The report estimated the value of TikTok’s US operations at between $40 billion and $50 billion.
Although Musk is currently ranked as the world’s wealthiest person, Bloomberg said it was not clear how Musk could execute the transaction, or if he would need to sell other assets.
The US Congress passed a law last year that requires ByteDance to either sell its wildly popular platform or shut it down. It goes into effect on Sunday — a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. China and ByteDance strongly deny the claims.
TikTok has challenged the law, taking an appeal all the way to the US Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on Friday.
At the hearing, a majority of the conservative and liberal justices on the nine-member bench appeared skeptical of arguments by a lawyer for TikTok that forcing a sale was a violation of First Amendment free speech rights.
Bloomberg characterized Beijing’s consideration of a possible Musk transaction as “still preliminary,” noting that Chinese officials have yet to reach a consensus on how to proceed.
Musk is a close ally of Trump and is expected to play an influential role in Washington in the coming four years.
He also runs electric car company Tesla, which has a major factory in China and counts the country as one of the automaker’s biggest markets.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to enact new tariffs on Chinese goods, which would expand a trade war begun in his first term and which was largely upheld, and in some cases supplemented, by outgoing President Joe Biden.
Indonesia plans minimum age for social media use
- Minister Meutya Hafid said plans will “protect children in digital space,” did not specify minimum age
JAKARTA: Indonesia plans to issue a regulation to set a minimum age for users of social media, a move aimed at protecting children, its communications minister has said.
The plans follows Australia’s decision to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, with fines for tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok if they failed to prevent children accessing their platforms.
Minister Meutya Hafid did not say what the minimum age would be in Indonesia. Her remarks, made late on Monday, came after Meutya discussed the plan with President Prabowo Subianto.
“We discussed how to protect children in digital space,” she said in a video uploaded on the YouTube channel of the president’s office.
“The president said to carry on with this plan. He is very supportive on how this kind of child protection will be done in our digital space,” she said.
Internet penetration in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, reached 79.5 percent last year, according to a survey of 8,700 people by the Indonesia Internet service providers’ association.
The survey showed 48 percent of children under 12 had access to the Internet, with some respondents of that age group using Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The survey showed Internet penetration was 87 percent among “Gen Z” users, or those age 12 to 27.
Saudi Arabia chairs Arab media talks in Tunisia
- Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi highlighted the importance of enhancing Arab media cooperation to address development issues and convey the voice of Arab people globally
- Meeting was a key step toward unifying media efforts among member states, with a strategic vision focused on promoting Arab identity
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia chaired the 112th executive council meeting of the Arab States Broadcasting Union in Hammamet, Tunisia, on Tuesday, with the presence of member states and the union’s president, Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi.
Al-Harthi highlighted the importance of enhancing Arab media cooperation to address development issues and convey the voice of Arab people globally, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The meeting was a key step toward unifying media efforts among member states, with a strategic vision focused on promoting Arab identity, shared values and keeping pace with global media developments in line with the needs of Arab societies, he said.
Al-Harthi also highlighted investment projects to provide the union with sustainable financial resources, ensuring its flexibility and continuity, including the creation of a company to serve as the union’s investment arm.
The meeting reviewed the union’s achievements over the past year, discussed challenges facing Arab media and explored investment opportunities to support media integration.
It also covered preparations for the Arab Media Conference, expected to be held in Iraq later this year, which will serve as a platform for exchanging expertise and fostering media collaboration among member states.
The meeting concluded by stressing the importance of continued joint efforts to achieve the union’s objectives, elevate Arab media’s global status and present a positive, comprehensive image of the Arab world.
Head of hostage NGO believes US journalist Tice still in Syria
- Zakka said he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released
DAMASCUS: The head of an American organization focused on hostage releases said on Monday he believes US journalist Austin Tice was still being held in Syria by people loyal to toppled leader Bashar Assad.
Speaking to Reuters in Damascus, Nizar Zakka said he believed Tice was being held by “very few people in a safe house in order to do an exchange or a deal.”
Zakka, a Lebanese businessman with US permanent residency who was held in Iran for four years until 2019 on charges of spying, is the president of Hostage Aid Worldwide.
He has traveled to Syria multiple times following Assad’s ouster by rebels on Dec. 8 in a bid to track down Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist who was abducted in 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Assad.
Zakka said his group’s own investigation had revealed Tice was still in Syria, and that “a lot of progress” had been made in his hunt in recent weeks. But he added that Syria’s new rulers, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), had not provided much assistance.
“We were hoping that HTS would help us more, but unfortunately HTS did not help us because they had their own concerns,” he said.
Zakka said he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released.
Tice was detained at a checkpoint in Daraya, near Damascus, in August 2012. Reuters was first to report that Tice managed to slip out of his cell in 2013 and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.
He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former US officials said.
Tice’s mother Debra has voiced hope that upheaval in Syria will lead to freedom for her son and has expressed gratitude for efforts by journalists and other civilians searching for him, including from Hostage Aid Worldwide.
Zakka said he was in regular touch with Debra.
“She gave us all the power and the support for us to make it happen, to find Austin and to work for Austin,” he said.
