Meta shareholders vote against proposal to assess political entanglement in India

Meta Platforms shareholders Thursday voted overwhelmingly against a proposal to assess the company's political entanglements and content management biases in India, its biggest market.

The proposal argued Meta was a catalyst of religious violence in India. 

Earlier, the Meta's board of directions had recommended a vote against this particular shareholder proposal termed as Proposal Seven.

What is Proposal Seven?

This proposal addresses allegations against Facebook regarding hate speech dissemination, failure to address risks and political bias, and concerns about content moderation and transparency.

"Facebook is apparently a critical catalyst of religious violence in India from disseminating anti-Muslim hate speech and failing to flag posts and speakers who pose risks in this regard," the proposal said.

The proposal pointed out that in the months preceding the 2020 Delhi riots, incendiary comments against religion were made by "the head of a powerful North Indian temple" in a video on Facebook which has been viewed well over 40 million times.

The proponent of this resolution is SumofUS, a global non-profit advocacy organisation and an online community, which has now been renamed Eko. It is supported by activist Mari Mennel-Bell, SEC filings showed.

Meta's response

Beside issuing a five-point statement against the Proposal Seven which is publicly available on the SEC website, the Board of Directions of the company recommended a vote against the shareholder proposal.

In its response, Meta said the company is"committed to respecting human rights – and their underlying principles of equality, safety, dignity, privacy, and voice – across our business operations."

"We are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diversity of the people, all around the globe, who use our products and services."

Meta emphasised its commitment to maintaining safety and integrity across all jurisdictions, including India, where it operates. The company said it has allocated significant resources to foster a culture of respect and ensure the safety of its users in India.

Meta said it is already “providing extensive disclosure on our human rights policies and practices and have published an independent human rights impact assessment regarding potential human rights risks in India that it believe addresses the proposal.”

"Given our ongoing efforts to address this topic, the requested report is unnecessary and would not provide additional benefit to our shareholders," Meta said.