Recently I was shocked to see a post in Facebook by DW that promoted polygamy citing how some women in Malaysia relished the practice in their society.
The tagline was:
Tiqa convinced her husband to enter into a polygamous marriage, for the good of the family. Would you?
The news channel went on to appreciate how women across the world were breaking stereotypes (like this!)
No, Facebook did not think of banning the page or the news story. Human rights.
I did not read the story, I felt sick. I don’t think this post will be received well even in Arab world where things are changing.
Will Facebook be next promoting child marriage by 15 years which is also permissible in some societies. After all you guys never fail to run the life stories of dreaded extremists bringing to light their humane side.
I also got a suggestion from FB asking me to unfollow a certain page that reported on illicit religious conversions in India. It audaciously claimed that, such a step would enable me to see more posts by friends. I had the presence of mind to click the window.
This page goes by the name ‘No conversion.’ I am following this FB page for years now. It reports on the conversion mafia operating in India funded by the west. It publishes photo proofs and videos to support its claims. It is creating awareness in Hindu society as to how through bribes and brainwashing, the poorest and the vulnerable in India are conned into conversion and pulled into debt trap out of which they cannot extricate themselves ever. The page also calls the bluff of the evangelists whose missionary work includes paying visits to death beds offering miracle cure in exchange for conversion. The expose’ is stunning. Probably it is ringing alarm bells everywhere.
I wonder who gave the rights to Facebook to advise me who to follow and who to unfollow. Who are you Mark Zuckerberg to tell me what I must do. You are promoting polygamy openly in your pages and you do not ban content whose views a majority in the world do not subscribe to. But you ban Hindus who react to such vicious posts.
One gets an idea that some communities are working overtime to see that Hindu claims are nullified. Just Hindu posts are reported and removed/banned. Whereas no Hindu has the time to engage in such nefarious activities calling for ban of others anti-social posts. We utilize our valuable time for more productive issues naturally!
FB suggesting to me what to do sounds illegal to me, not just immoral and unethical. Google is manipulating us to save or rather share passwords with them, prompting us innumerable times when we try to sign into any address.
Social media giants like Facebook and those like Google are literally taking us for a ride. Still we are unable to move out of them. In today’s world, in order to keep abreast of things, we also need these cancers with us. We simply have to learn to live with these evils as we learned to do with the coronavirus.
It is time government of India pays attention to literal blackmail by these US corporations. To what extent can they be granted this leverage to undermine us as a nation. Facebook is allowing posting by those like DW their daily dosages of poison. This is like slow poisoning with arsenic: something that will not make us seek a legal ban and at the same time will do the damage it desired. BBC is openly anti-India news agency that needs to be kicked out of the country with immediate effect. Social media is a double edged sword. It is time India implements some strict regulation measures to control Facebook, Google and Twitter.
vijiravindran's 