The Congress has written to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg - this is the second from the opposition party this fortnight - for details on steps being taken to investigate allegations that the social media giant does not apply hate speech rules to posts by BJP members.
"We urge you to let us know what steps your company is planning to take to investigate these matters... will also be pursuing legislative and judicial actions in India to ensure a foreign company cannot continue to cause social disharmony in our nation for pursuit of private profits," the letter said.
Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal also asked him to explain a global media report claiming that even WhatsApp, used by 400 million Indians, is compromised and controlled indirectly by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Referring to an article by Time magazine which party MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted, claiming it "exposes (the) WhatsApp-BJP nexus", the Congress claimed the BJP had been "allowed to exercise control of WhatsApp India operations in return for a possible license for its payment operations".
Hitting back at the Congress, Union Information Technology Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said people whose political base has "shrunk like anything" seek to dominate discourse on these platforms, and asserted that everybody regardless of his ideology has the right to air views. He said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi believes that any organisation that does not work to his liking is acting under the pressure of the BJP and the RSS.
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