Amidst ongoing question and answer sessions between the government and tech giants over the long-pending Data Protection Bill and a foreign newspaper reports suggesting that Facebook favours BJP on social media, Facebook’s South Asia public policy director Ankhi Das has resigned from her post on Tuesday.
Das, for the unknown, in the aforementioned report was accused by company insiders of having intervened to block action against a Telangana BJP leader for his Islamophobic comments.
However, her resignation on Tuesday did not seem to be the result of her mention in the controversial report. Das wrote on Facebook, “I have decided to step down from Facebook after long service to its mission of connecting people and building communities to pursue my personal interest in public service.”
Facebook India acknowledged Das’s resignation and said that she has been one of the greatest assets to the company.
“Ankhi has decided to step down from her role in Facebook to pursue her interest in public service. Ankhi was one of our earliest employees in India and played an instrumental role in the growth of the company and its services over the last 9 years. She has been a part of my leadership team over the last 2 years, a role in which she has made enormous contributions. We are grateful for her service and wish her the very best for the future,” said Ajit Mohan, Facebook India’s vice president and managing director.
As far as the report is concerned, it was August 14 when a Wall Street Journal report claiming that Das had intervened to stop the Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh account from being banned, went viral.
The report was followed by another report of August 30 in which WSJ wrote that Das and PM Modi share a formal relationship and Da “lit a fire to his social media campaign” before he swept to power in 2014.
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Days after the report went viral, T Raja was permanently banned from Facebook.
