Facebook representatives asked on fund spent on data safety

New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS) During Friday’s session at the Joint Committee of Parliament on personal data protection Bill, 2019, Facebook representatives including its India Policy Director Ankhi Das was asked on how much fund is spent by the social media giant on data safety, sources said.

Meanwhile, in the interaction that went for nearly two hours, they were also questioned on the quantum of Facebook’s revenue as well as the profit they are making in India.

Das, who was recently alleged to have ignored hate speech on its platform, along with other representative gave a detailed presentation.

Last month, amid severe criticism of Facebook and the Central government over the alleged collusion of Das and the BJP, Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote a hard hitting letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, blaming the Facebook India management of alleged bias against people supporting the right-of-centre ideology.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 empowers the government to ask companies for both anonymous personal and non-personal data.