Facebook didn’t block BJP MP’s fake accounts: Whistleblower

New Delhi: Company documents and communications shared by a Meta (formerly Facebook) whistleblower to a parliamentary committee names BJP MP Vinod Sonkar as having run a network of fake accounts that Facebook did not act on despite being flagged for takedown, according to copies seen by HT.

The decision to leave the network up, in the run up to Delhi elections in 2020, adds to a list of seemingly preferential treatment given by the company to some political parties, and Sonkar is the second known politician whose activity on the company’s main social network service was left untouched. Wall Street Journal reported the company did not impose a ban on Telangana BJP leader T Raja despite him violating trust and safety rules through what was classified as hate speech.

“If they had information about fake accounts then they should have blocked them. My page has been verified by them. Why were they allowing fake accounts to operate,” Sonkar said.