Facebook moved to reassure Sri Lanka’s United National Party (UNP) following fears that user data collected from the social media site could be used against party members amidst a political crisis in the island nation.
The social media giant acknowledged the letter from Sri Lanka’s UNP and reassured them of Facebook’s community safety.
“Facebook takes data protection and people’s privacy very seriously and we have a responsibility to keep people safe on our services — whether from terrorism, bullying, or other threats. We also have a broader social responsibility to help bring people closer together — against polarization and extremism. We have received UNP’s letter and want to reassure them of our community’s safety on our platform,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement to lankareporter.com.
Earlier, the letter sent to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg by UNP general secretary Kabir Hashim, requested the US firm not to cooperate with the purported Rajapakse administration to refrain from disclosing information about Sri Lankan users of the platform with any officials of the ‘illegal government’ of President Maithripala Sirisena unless it is sanctioned by a court of law in the country.
Its is the second time this year Facebook was drawn into controversy in Sri Lanka. In March, fake news on social media platforms fueled violence.
