Facebook Faces Parliament’s Unfiltered Question‑Time
During a historic session in London’s Parliament, Singapore’s senior law minister, Edwin Tong took Facebook’s vice‑president of policy solutions, Richard Allan, on the spot over a March hate‑saying that sparked riots in Sri Lanka.
Who was in the room?
- Singapore – Edwin Tong, Sun Xueling & Pritam Singh
- Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Latvia & the UK – 24 MPs representing nearly 447 million people
The question that rattled the social‑media giant
Mr. Tong cited a Sinhala‑language post that read: “Kill all Muslims, don’t even let an infant of the dogs escape.” A user filed a complaint, but Facebook replied it was not a breach of community standards and told the user to just block the poster. This delay led the Sri Lankan government to ban access to the platform.
Allan’s response
- Admitted it was a “serious and egregious” mistake.
- Stated Facebook is “best placed” to remove harmful content.
- Claimed the mishap was a “simple error” and emphasized the goal of reducing such mistakes.
- Boasted massive investment in AI to create multilingual hate‑speech dictionaries.
What Singapore’s MPs wanted
- Sun Xueling asked if Facebook would collaborate with authorities to delete false news and shut down accounts that spread misinformation.
- Allan promised cooperation but asserted that the ultimate call on truth lies with the judicial authority of each country.
- Pritam Singh queried Facebook’s handling of election meddling, citing the 2016 U.S. election where Russian actors allegedly spread divisive ads.
- Allan pledged a dedicated task force of security and legal experts for every major election.
- Pressure on the definition of “major” led him to clarify that all national elections are covered, e.g., a forthcoming Singaporean election.
Outcomes of the lengthy testimony
After nearly three hours, parliamentarians signed off on the “International Principles for the Law Governing the Internet.” The document calls on tech companies to be accountable to users and put concrete limits on the spread of misinformation.
In a turbo‑charged mix of curiosity, concern, and a touch of humor, the session reminded us that even global social media powerhouses can face very human, very fallible moments on the world stage.
