HIGHLIGHTS

For years, human rights organisations have warned about the dangers of internet hate speech.

Last week, the business stated that it will 'evaluate the feasibility.'

Facebook has struggled to keep track of information from all around the world.

WHY IN NEWS

On Wednesday, opponents of Facebook requested for the release of a human rights impact study it commissioned in 2020 to look into hate speech on its services in India. The social media firm, now known as Meta, is under fire for its treatment of abuses on its platforms, particularly after internal papers obtained by whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed the company's problems to monitor problematic content in regions where it was most likely to do harm. Rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and India Civil Watch International pushed Facebook to reveal the study in a letter submitted to the company earlier this month and made public on Wednesday.

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'Such initiatives are challenging, particularly in a nation as varied and huge as India,' said Gare Smith, partner and chair of the global business and human rights practise at the US law firm Foley Hoag, which Facebook commissioned to do the review. Miranda Sissons, Meta's head of human rights policy, said in a statement: 'We want these assessments to be comprehensive because of the intricacy of this task. In accordance with our Human Rights Policy, we shall report on how we are addressing human rights effects on an annual basis.' Rights organisations warned the Wall Street Journal in November that Facebook had restricted the scope of the draught report and was delaying the process.

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'Such initiatives are challenging, particularly in a nation as varied and huge as India,' said Gare Smith, partner and chair of the global business and human rights practise at the US law firm Foley Hoag, which Facebook commissioned to do the review. Miranda Sissons, Meta's head of human rights policy, said in a statement: 'We want these assessments to be comprehensive because of the intricacy of this task. In accordance with our Human Rights Policy, we shall report on how we are addressing human rights effects on an annual basis.' Rights organisations warned the Wall Street Journal in November that Facebook had restricted the scope of the draught report and was delaying the process.

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A Meta spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims or the timing for the review when contacted by Reuters. 'We've taken several procedures to guarantee the evaluation is performed fairly and independently,' Foley Hoag's Smith said.

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For years, human rights organisations have warned that online hate speech and disinformation are inflaming tensions in India, the company's largest market by number of users. 'Indian Muslims have been practically dehumanised and rendered helpless and voiceless as a result of the consistent and continuous barrage of hate on social media, particularly on Facebook,' said Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, a former Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, speaking at a press briefing organised by a group of Facebook critics known as the Real Facebook Oversight Board.Previous Reuters research on Myanmar and other nations looked into how Facebook has failed to regulate information in multiple languages throughout the world. After its oversight board suggested a study of how its platforms have been used to propagate information that heightens the risk of violence in Ethiopia, the business announced last week it will 'examine the possibility' of commissioning an independent human rights assessment of its operations there.