Meta shareholders will ask for accountability at the company's annual general meeting regarding allegations of Facebook's "political entanglement and content management bias in India". The Big Tech company is facing increasing scrutiny in areas such as privacy, online abuse, human rights impact, and so on.

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According to a filing on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Meta shareholders have floated Proposal Seven, termed 'Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market'.

This proposal, along with a few others will come for voting in the upcoming Meta AGM which is scheduled for May 31. However, Meta's board of directions has recommended a vote against this particular shareholder proposal.

What is the proposal?

Concerns regarding content moderation and transparency are addressed in this proposal, along with allegations regarding how hate speech is spread on Facebook, risks, and political bias.

"Facebook is apparently a critical catalyst of religious violence in India from disseminating anti-Muslim hate speech and failing to flag posts and speakers who pose risks in this regard," the proposal said.

The proposal pointed out that in the months preceding the 2020 Delhi riots, incendiary comments against religion were made by "the head of a powerful North Indian temple" in a video on Facebook which has been viewed well over 40 million times.

A Wall Street Journal article is cited in the proposal to say that former Facebook official Ankhi Das resisted employees' efforts to ban a BJP politician. "Das argued that punishing (the legislator) would hurt Facebook's business in India," the SEC filing said.

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Additionally, the resolution noted that Meta's India public policy head, Shivnath Thukral, "assisted the BJP's 2014 election campaign". According to the proposal, Meta has "poor capacity" when it comes to content moderation in India's 22 official languages.

What are the shareholders asking?

Meta is being urged by shareholders to conduct an impartial evaluation of allegations regarding political involvement and biases in content management within its operations in India. Specifically, they are concerned about how the platform has potentially contributed to the "fomentation of ethnic and religious conflicts and hatred."

The shareholders have suggested that the assessment should focus on identifying any political biases present in the company's activities and determining whether the content management algorithms and personnel in India have been effective in limiting the widespread dissemination of hate speech and disinformation.

What did Meta say?

Meta has responded to the shareholders' proposal with a five-point statement, which is publicly available on the SEC website. In this response, Meta expresses its commitment to upholding and respecting human rights.

"We are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diversity of the people, all around the globe, who use our products and services."

In a statement, Meta emphasised its commitment to maintaining safety and integrity across all jurisdictions, including India, where it operates. The company has allocated significant resources to foster a culture of respect and ensure the safety of its users in India.

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"We already provide extensive disclosure on our human rights policies and practices and have published an independent human rights impact assessment regarding potential human rights risks in India that we believe addresses the proposal," it added.

"Given our ongoing efforts to address this topic, the requested report is unnecessary and would not provide additional benefit to our shareholders," Meta said.

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