Page 83 - PR Communication Age January-June2020

ist) , or CPM, demanding a joint par- The Indian arms of some of these mul- sue in the US, but in India, the prob-
liamentary committee probe, and tinationals have also paused their ads lem is magnified a hundred times over
other opposition parties calling for on Facebook and Instagram. "The busi- because of "our user base as well as
Facebook to respond to the charges. ness model underlying Facebook is re- multiple local languages which make
sponsible for instigating one social the spread of such content even more
The platform came under parliamen- harm after the next. This has every- serious".
tary scrutiny last year as well when the thing to do with the company's com-
panel on information technology, then mercial imperative to hoard as much Cherian pointed out that Facebook has
headed by BJP's Anurag Thakur, ques- data and consumer attention as it can, been shown to be capable of control-
tioned officials of both Facebook and and monetize all of it by designing al-
ling such content in markets such as
WhatsApp on the broader issue of gorithms that profile people and ma-
Europe, where companies have to ad-
whether they should be treated as nipulate the media experience," Ghosh
here to strict General Data Protection
aggregators or selectors of content. said.
Regulation (GDPR) norms.
"Facebook and the other dominant Political campaign adviser and chief
Another public policy executive famil-
internet firms variously claim they are executive of public relations firm Per-
iar with the workings of Facebook said
both platforms and media firms-and fect Relations, Dilip Cherian, said
the problem of Facebook is in its DNA.
take full advantage of the positive li- Facebook will be unable to control the
"It is known for its proximity to the
ability shields offered to these kinds of seemingly negative image and public-
ruling power in most markets, which
entities while not being subject to the ity in India until it makes changes to its
regulatory requirements faced by plat- core product to address issues of hate makes it arrogant," he said, declining
forms or media firms. That must speech and misinformation. to be named.
change," said Ghosh.
"In a complex market like India, the None of this seems to have any bear-
Facebook, with over 280 million users, parameters have drastically changed ing on Facebook's business plans in In-
and WhatsApp with over 400 million as the sheer number of online users dia. The company recently invested
users, enjoy extensive reach and pen- and the skills required to spread vile $5.7 billion in the digital arm of Reli-
etration in India but the firm hasn't been content has increased multifold over ance Industries and is also expected to
able to curb hate content. In June, hun- the years. The problem of hate speech receive permission to launch a pay-
dreds of advertisers in US pulled the and misinformation in India needs to ments service on WhatsApp.
plug on advertising on Facebook asking be seen from the volume perspective
the platform to curb hate speech after as well," he said. Shuchi Bansal, SaumyaTewari, Anuja,
the killing of George Floyd under the GyanVarma, Pretika Khanna and Eliza-
#BlackLivesMatter campaign. Facebook may be facing the same is- beth Roche - (Livemint)

Quotes to Remember

"Do not wait; the time will never be just right. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you
may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along"
George Herbert

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more
time."
Thomas A. Edison

Our crisis is no longer material; it's existential, it's spiritual. We have so much fucking stuff and so many opportunities that we don't
even know what to give a fuck about anymore.

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