The document discusses how hate has become a state project in India that targets religious minorities, women, and Dalits. It argues that Facebook plays a dangerous role by allowing unchecked hate speech and incitement on its platform, which has over 460 million users in India. Several examples are given of inflammatory content posted by politicians and religious figures that incite violence against minorities but were not removed by Facebook. The document calls on Facebook to take the local context into account and to release an unredacted report on the human rights impact assessment it conducted in India.

1. India's Ecosystemof Hate:Is Facebook both, a Beneficiary andan Offender?
Complete textof TeestaSetalvad’s speechat online eventorganizedby Real FacebookOversight
Board on January 20, 2022
Hate istodaya state projectinIndiawhere the political formationinpower,itsvigilante organisations
and brownshirtsare mentallyandphysicallyarmedthroughhate propagandatoviolentlyharmreligious
minorities,womenandDalitstargets.PrejudicedIdeas,Actsof Prejudice,Discrimination,Violence –four
stagespriorto Genocide—havebeenbreached.
The end goal of thishate,engineeredthroughtargetedsexual andotherkindsof physical violence isthe
alterationof the Indianrepublicintoamajoritariantheocraticstate andthe permanentreductionof
these sectionsof Indianstosecondclasscitizens.Indiahasvariouslydubbedonly“partlyfree”(Freedom
House,2021), onlya “partiallyfree electoral autocracy”,[(V-Dem)DemocracyInstitute2021],lowon the
FreedomIndex downto111th (of 162 countries).Itisalsoseenasa country of particularconcern when
it comesto the dignity,lifesafetyandsecurityof minorities.Itisinthiscontextthatthe Supremacist,
Hate as State Projectneedstobe evaluatedbyinternational govts,corporationsandplatforms.
December2021 and the newyearsaw an all-outcall forthe mass killing/genocide of Muslimsfromone
of northIndia’s‘Holy’cities,Christianswere attackedacrossthe countryandunable toattendChurch
and enjoyChristmas.A particularcommunity,India’slargestminorityanditswomenandgirlsare
debasingtarget–through2021 and 2022--throughtwitteraccounts,Githuband Clubhouse platforms
where the macabre and shameful phenomenonof theirauctionshastakenplace.A RadioSilence from
the political leadershipinpowerinNewDelhiclearlysignifiesconsent.Hate Crimesthatresultenjoy
therefore ahighlevel of impunity.ThatFacebookcanbe a participant-platformforthisescalationupthe
genocidal pyramidisshockingandunacceptable.
Withinthisoverall scenario,FacebookIndiaasa platformispayinga dangerousrole.Facebookhasa
vast clientele of 460 millionplususersinEnglishand22 Indianlanguagesandallows,uncheckedinciteful
content,thathas become an uncheckedinstrumentfortargetingminorities,Dalits,women.
Some quickexamples:InOct2018 we complainedtoMs.Ankhi Das,the PublicPolicyDirector,India,
Southand Central Asia,Facebookaboutthe vandalisationof aChurchin Varanasi,St.ThomasChurch in
the prime minister’sparliamentaryconstituency,byextremists,some of whomhadalsopreviously
posted--onFacebook –inflammatorycontenttargetingthe Christiancommunity.Noresponse.
In 2019, our HateWatch programme hadanalysedhow one electedofficialof the influential rulingBJP
party froma state inthe south,Telanganaamplifiedarumourand addedhisownhate-filledspeechon
Facebookwhere he hadhalf a millionviewers.A yearearlier,he hadcalledforaviciouseconomic
boycottof “terroristKashmiris”duringthe AmarnathYatraon a videothathas beenviewed3,00,000
times.Finally,he wasa central figure flaggedinthe Aug2020 WSJ Reportonhow the corporation
ignoredhate speechbyBJPleadersinIndiatoprotectits businessinterests.
By March 2021, whenFacebookfinallyconcludedthathe,RajaSingh,hadviolateditsownCommunity
standards(ObjectionableContent) andViolence andCriminalBehaviourrules,he wasremovedfromFB.
His FanPageswith2,19,430 and anotherwith17,018 followers,howevercontinue tooperate and
generate provocative content.

2. Similarstarkexamplesaroundthe Delhi2020 targetedviolence of Muslimsinthe capital,DelhibyRagini
Tiwari (“kill ordie”call),Kapil Mishra,Anjali Vermashow thatitisthe uncheckeduse of Facebookin
non-Englishlanguagesthatisinstrumental inthe spill andspiral of targetedof violence.FacebookInc
has respondedtotwocomplaintssentbyCJPagainsthate contentmade byRagini Tiwari,statingthat
theyare notin a positiontotake any actionagainstTiwari.Instead,FacebooksuggestedthatCJPcontact
the party directlytogeta resolutiononthe issue.
Thenthere isa serial hate offender,DeepakSharmawhoFacebookisextremelyreluctanttodisengage
with:we developedadetailed profile of hisactivitiesandcharacterthroughFacebook.We complained,
broughtit upin writingandat round-tables.Withthousandsof followers,he still enjoysspace onthe
platform.CJPhasalsobeensteadilytracking,documenting,reportingandcomplainingaboutthe manat
the centre of the genocidal hate story,Yati NarsinghanandSaraswati,foryearsnow pointingoutthe
eco-systemof hate he hascreated.Duringthiselaborate process,inNovember2018, fouryearsbefore
the genocidal call tokill Muslimswasmade byhimin December2021, whena CJP membercomplained
abouthis FB postwhere he saidHindusshouldbe armed24X7 to protect theirreligionandthatIslamis
cancer, we were toldbyFB Indiathat thisdoesnotgo againsttheircommunitystandardsbutif we have
an issue,we caneitherblockYati or unfollow hispage.Inshort,we have triedtoengage howeverand
whenevergiventhe chance,have haddetailedcorrespondences,attendedIndiaRoundtables,have
offeredmore thana dozenanda half of minute case studiesandmany,more complaintsthat,have
unfortunatelyresultedinunsatisfactoryresults.All thisworkhasalsobeenata riskand cost as the
governmenttracksthe critiquesanddissenters.One of the mainissueswhichisastumbling block
despite the FBmegacorporation’sownsetstandardsagainstpublicsafety,hate speech,violence,
discrimination,isthatFacebookIndiafailstotake cognisance of the local contextof supremacistand
communallychargedpolitics.Comprehendingthe difference betweenhate speechandfree speech
requiresacandidengagementwithanunderstandingof India’sdiversityandIndia’strackrecordof
vicious,targetedcommunal violence.Allowingsuchhate contentonFacebookalsolegitimisessuch
contentthat,evencourtshave –albeitslowly --recognised.
Facebook’sautomatedfilterswhichare supposedtofilterhate speechestoo,falterinIndiainthe non-
Englishlanguages:Anyusercantodaysearch forhate contentthrougha handful of ‘keywords’,which
Facebookdoesnotfilterout.Wordsor termslike “KattarHindu”(rigidor fanatical Hindu) पंचरपुत्र पंचर
छाप, मुल्ले, मुल्ला, क*आ, हलाला,हलालाकीऔलाद,बाबर की औलाद whichare particularderogatory/slang
termsdevisedsimplyescape all filters.(“Panchar” slang/derrorgatorytermforMuslimswhoworkin
automobile garages).
In fact,there are individuals,groupsandpageswiththe ID KattarHindu,theyhave hundredsof
thousandsof followers.These.canbe foundonFB, WhatsApp,Twitter.
All of the above is also,by the way,violative of IndianLaw andJurisprudence,international law and
conventionsincludingthe UN’s2019 Call againstXenophobiaandHate Speechandthe 2011 UN Guiding
Principle onBusinessandHumanRights.
Aboutthe HRIA process -We had extensivemeetsanddealingswiththe HRIA processandouranalyses
and case studies,complaintsandresponsesweredeliberatedupononseveral occasionsandingreat
detail.The dismaythatthisisnot outyet isnot justdisappointingitisa bigblow to accountabilityand
transparencyfroma mega corporation.

3. The close connectionbetweenelectoral politicsandhate content-speechinIndia,print,electronichas
beenwidelydocumented.The hollowingoutof some of ourConstitutional Institutionsmeanttocheck
such unconstitutional content –the ElectionCommissionof India(ECI) mandatedunderlaw tocheck
“the misuse of religionforpolitical ends”—makesthe situationmore fragile,explosive,dangerous.
While Indiaremainsthe world’slargestdemocracy,supremacistmajoritarianismthreatensits
constitutional core.A 2019 “Status of PolicinginIndia”report2019 that interviewed12,000 policemen
and womenrevealedshockingprejudices:70 percentbelievedthatMuslimswere prone tomore
violence and30 percent that Dalitstoohad the same proclivities.Lawsare beingenactedtoday,Cow
Slaughterlawsandanti-Conversionlaws(Love Jihad)lawsthatare nothingbuta weaponisationof the
law & ordermachinery.Indiaisseriouslyonthe brink.
Under these circumstances,the formidable Facebookclientalethathascrossed463 million,plusthe
millionsof WhatsappandInstagramusers –platformsalsoownedbyFacebook—andalsoasource of
spreadinghate multipliesmanifoldthisdeleterioussocial impact.
Facebook needstoengage withthe issue directly,honestlyandcomprehensively.“Facebookmust
Release the full,undiluted,andunredactedHRIA onIndia.”