Social media do play a vital role in the political system of different nations. Political leaders and their supporters engage the voters through the social media. Thus these media must be fair in conducting themselves while propagating political views. Facebook has hate-speech prohibitions in its policy. At times the hateful content could instigate violence. It intervenes to control expression on its platform if the postings fall foul of the Facebook policy. A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed that a senior executive of Facebook in India repeatedly intervened to protect posts which were biased in favour of the ruling party. It thus derailed the Facebook policy and proved that the processes are not robust enough. The company tries to be in the good book of the powers that be.

It is necessary to have internal reforms. Otherwise, it will cost the platform a great deal, and also cost a lot to the countries in which the media operate. They should be neutral to the dispensation in power. There is a political risk otherwise. There should not be meddling in the democratic processes. Accountability is one of the most important issues to be dealt with and is an ever-evolving subject of importance.

Facebook can face a backlash from advertisers who may shift their budgets to other platforms after halting advertising on Facebook.

There is enough evidence globally that social media firms like Facebook are no longer innocent platforms they once claime to be. ( Financial Express Edit, 4th Sept.2020.) They earn huge revenues and are thus responsible for what is posted. They, on their own, have developed algorithms for detecting and then taking down various types of hate speech or content. They have systems to report hate speech, supposing their own system fail to detect them. Facebook has informed its audience that it can take down any content that could increase regulatory or legal risks for it.

Just like traditional media, social media must be held accountable for what is posted on its platform. The difference here is that social media cannot prevent the publication of a story, whereas an editor of a newspaper can. The issue is the action taken after the publication.