Business & Economy

Ex-Prasar Bharati CEO: We Don’t Need Censorship from Big Tech

Russia views Meta's decision to ban Sputnik and RT "very negatively", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated. He said that Meta has "discredited itself" by taking these actions and has complicated prospects for restoring its relations with Russia.
Sputnik
Social media companies can't take "unilateral decisions" on content in India, experts have told Sputnik India, a day after Meta* banned Russian media entities from its platforms Instagram* and Facebook*.

"Foreign influence operations are a matter of concern for India as has been evident from the manner in which global media outlets have reported on Indian democracy and the general elections in recent times," Shashi Shekhar Vempati, a former CEO of India's public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, remarked.

He underscored that India should work towards "insulating" its democracy from such interferences, adding that this should be "sovereign decision and action".

"However, given that India has been subject to influence operations from multiple states with varied geo-political interests often at conflict one other, it is concerning that the only billion-people democracy is being viewed as a petri dish for digital influence experiments," the Ex-CEO stressed.

BJP politician Savio Rodrigues criticised Meta Founder Mark Zuckerberg for following the "diktat" of the US State Department, which announced a ban on Sputnik's parent, Rossiya Segodnya, and five other entities for engaging in "covert influence activities".

"Zuckerberg is always going to be an asset of the US State Department. He is a puppet of the US administration and is nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing," Rodrigues underlined.

He warned that Meta's ban on Russian media is yet another evidence that other news organisations, which don't toe the American line, are at high risk of being blocked too, especially considering the fact that social media algorithms could be manipulated by their owners to suit the American interests.

"Today it is Sputnik and RT, tomorrow it might be someone else. It is dangerous to the freedom of speech that social media stands for. In a way, it is clear that Meta would only promote pro-US content on social media platforms, which is hypocritical," the Indian politician concluded.

* Meta (Instagram, Facebook) banned in Russia as extremist organisation
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