On Monday, 17 August, Facebook’s public policy director for India, Ankhi Das filed a complaint with Delhi Police alleging threats to her life and harassment.
The complaint was filed three days after a news report by Wall Street Journal stated Das had blocked Facebook from applying hate speech restrictions on several BJP leaders including Raja Singh, Anant Kumar Hegde and Kapil Mishra.
The complaint names five individuals including Awesh Tiwari, state bureau chief of Hindi news channel Swaraj Express. Das’ complaint, filed with the Cyber Cell unit of Delhi Police, alleges that Tiwari had threatened her on Facebook on 16 August.
Speaking with The Quint, Tiwari has strongly refuted the allegations against him. He said he has never contacted or interacted with Das nor has he issued any threats.
“I do not know why I have been named in the complaint. I got to know about it from other colleagues. This is a very important issue and I had simply posted points from the report that was originally published by Wall Street Journal,” Tiwari told The Quint.
Tiwari also filed a complaint with the police in Raipur on Monday evening. He said as a journalist he was being intimidated and prevented from doing him job.
However, in a startling allegation, Tiwari claimed several of his posts questioning the Centre since February 2019 have been taken down by Facebook without adequate explanation.
“As a journalist for over 25 years it is my duty to ask questions. However, a number of my posts including on the Pulwama attacks, on CAA-NRC and tribal issues in Chhattisgarh have been blocked by Facebook in the past,” Tiwari told The Quint.
“One of my LIVE videos about a tribal agitation from Bhilai, which was going viral, was suddenly blocked. I was told it was against guidelines but never explained what I did wrong,” Tiwari alleged.
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