In Meet on Trump Posts, Zuckerberg Mentions NE Delhi Violence

Zuckerberg, speaking about how his platform has taken down videos inciting violence, cited an example from India.

File image of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

(Photo: AP)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg held a video call with 25,000 employees in order to address the issue that has divided his social media company for the last week – dealing with US President Donald Trump's controversial posts on the protests against George Floyd's death.

The transcript of the leaked audio, obtained by Vox’s Recode, throws an interesting revelation – the mention of an incident related to India.

Responding to an employee’s concerns over moderation of posts instigating violence, Zuckerberg said, “If somebody is actually going to encourage violence... you don’t want that content up,” by citing an example from India.

“And there have been cases in India, for example, where someone said, ‘Hey, if the police don’t take care of this, our supporters will get in there and clear the streets.’ That is kind of encouraging supporters to go do that in a more direct way, and we took that down. So, we have a precedent for that.”

Mark Zukerberg

The meeting was to discuss how some employees see the president's posts as glorification of violence against American protesters, while others do not.

While Zuckerberg did not quote a name, the content bears semblance to the speech made by BJP leader Kapil Mishra ahead of the northeast Delhi riots.

On 23 February, BJP’s Kapil Mishra called for Delhi Police to clear the roads where women were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and threatened that if roads were not cleared, he would do it along with his supporters.

Mishra gave a three-day ultimatum to the protesters to vacate the spot, however, riots started between two religious groups in northeast Delhi on 25 February.

The Quint has been unable to independently verify if the speech was taken down.

The US president has been posting about the ongoing protests against racism and police violence, even saying, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in a tweet that was taken down by Twitter.

The leaked audio also revealed that Zuckerberg called for “unity, calmness and empathy for people who are struggling” during this time, while acknowledging the history of racism in the country.

At least 53 people from both the Hindu and Muslim community lost their lives in the northeast Delhi violence. A Delhi Police investigation in cases related to the violence is underway.