An investigation by Sharyl Atkinson of RealClearInvestigations has revealed that 18 of the 20 members of the oversight board proposed by Facebook has ties to liberal Jewish billionaire George Soros. Earlier this year, George Soros had declared a war against nationalists and nationalism, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Facebook had recently announced the formation of an ‘independent’ oversight board to regulate content on its platform and determine whether posts violate the platform’s norms on nudity, hate speech and insensitivity. The investigation has now revealed that 90 per cent of the board’s members “collaborated with or are tied to groups that have received funding from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.”
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Prime Minister of Denmark, Catalina Botero-Marino, Afia Asantewaa Asare-Kyei and Sudhir Krishnaswamy are some of the members on the oversight board with ties to George Soros. Other members with links to the liberal billionaire include Ronaldo Lemos, Michael McConnell, Alan Rusbridger and Andas Sajo.
An OpEd on the New York Times by the oversight board claimed, “The board members come from different professional, cultural and religious backgrounds and have various political viewpoints.” It added, “Some of us have been publicly critical of Facebook; some of us haven’t.”
“Facebook committed to creating an independent oversight body that will review Facebook’s decisions about what content to take down or leave up. Over the past 18 months, more than 2,000 experts and other relevant parties from 88 countries have contributed feedback that has shaped the development of this oversight board, which will have 20 members (ultimately growing to 40) and is scheduled to become operational this year,” it stated.
However, such statements are unlikely to assuage the concerns of conservatives who feel that social media platforms are increasingly curbing their freedom of expression selectively. Of late, it has become increasingly apparent that social media platforms are biased against conservative political opinion. The conduct of Twitter with regards to US President Donald Trump has left very little room for doubt.
Even Indians ought to be extremely concerned by the recent development as George Soros has demonstrated that he is looking to interfere with the domestic politics of our country. Apart from Indian NGOs linked to the billionaire which regularly attempt to influence our laws, individuals linked to him such as Harsh Mander have been involved in contentious matters and acted in a manner so as to create conflict within our territories.
