Executives from Meta are slated to testify before the Standing Committee on Information Technology on Monday in response to allegations of manipulating advertisement rates for various political parties, according to sources familiar with the situation. In addition to senior representatives from Facebook and WhatsApp, both entities under the Meta umbrella, high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) are also scheduled to present their perspectives before the committee, led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
The committee is expected to solicit the views of MeitY officials regarding strategies to ensure the safety and trustworthiness of the internet, particularly in the context of social media intermediaries, with a focus on the well-being of children and women. Additionally, Meta executives are likely to face inquiries about the alleged discrepancies in advertisement rates for political parties.
Comprising 31 members, the Standing Committee on IT, under Tharoor’s leadership, includes 21 representatives from the Lok Sabha and the remaining members from the Rajya Sabha. Last week, Congress president Sonia Gandhi urged the government to curb the “systematic interference” of Facebook and other social media giants in the electoral politics of the world’s largest democracy. Citing a report from Al Jazeera and The Reporters’ Collective, which claimed that Facebook provided the BJP with favorable deals for election advertisements while disregarding its own hate speech rules, Gandhi emphasized the need to protect democracy, regardless of the political party in power.