New Delhi: The Peace and Harmony Committee of the Delhi assembly, headed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha, has stated that it has “prima facie” found that Facebook was “complicit” in the North East Delhi riots of February 2020 and thus decided to summon its officials. Incidentally, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, is also due to hear Facebook representatives on September 2.The Delhi assembly panel, which was formed on March 2, took the decision on the basis of the deposition of independent journalists Kunal Purohit and Subhash Gatade, as well as the submissions of Chhattisgarh-based journalist Awesh Tiwari, who had also filed a First Information Report against Facebook India’s policy head Ankhi Das.The Delhi Legislative Assembly’s Committee on Peace & Harmony convened today to continue its proceedings in the Facebook matter. Witness depostions and compelling evidences were brought before the committee. pic.twitter.com/0RsoPd73St— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) August 31, 2020The Committee said it would also be examining the role of WhatsApp in the spread of violence. At a press conference, Chadha said Facebook should be treated as a co-accused in the riots. As for the decision to summon its executives, he said it was taken “for the sake of natural justice”.Meanwhile, the Committee has also issued a statement on its findings. It read:“The committee through its chairman Raghav Chadha has prima facie found Facebook complicit in Delhi riots of February 2020 on the premise of incriminatory material produced on record by the witnesses as well as their scathing depositions before the Committee, and thus deciding to summon the Facebook officials in its next meeting in order to examine them on oath and determine on their culpability.”The panel claimed to have received “multiple complaints” against Facebook, regarding the role of which the Wall Street Journal had also published a report recently. This report had accused Facebook of deliberately ignoring incendiary content from members of the ruling BJP and right-wing groups and, quoting unnamed Facebook insiders, accused Das of refusing to ban a BJP MLA from Telangana despite his divisive posts.Also read: Social Media and Populist Politicians are Natural BedfellowsThe Committee based its decision to summon the Facebook officials on material on the record and submissions from several persons. While Tiwari, who is state bureau chief of Swaraj Express in Chhattisgarh, had lodged the FIR against Das and two others for promoting enmity among communities, Purohit had alleged that Facebook showed a bias towards the BJP.Earlier, the panel also considered the views of some social activists and journalists, including Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (author of a book on social media in India), who accused Facebook of bias and deliberate inaction.The charge against the social media giant is that while its policies and regulations claims to curb dissemination of hateful and offensive content, it actually did precious little as its platform was used for manufacturing and propagating hateful communal content.Earlier, in its defence Facebook had stated that it was an “open, transparent and non-partisan platform” where people could express themselves and that it had detailed policies on removing hate speech. Facebook India vice-president and managing director Ajit Mohan had posted that “Facebook is and always has been an open, transparent and non-partisan platform where people can express themselves freely”.