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Congress president Sonia Gandhi (Photo: File)

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi said that social media is being abused to "hack our democracy".

She said that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are being manipulated to set political narratives in India.

"Global companies like Facebook and Twitter are increasingly being used to shape political narratives by leaders, parties and their proxies. This show the connivance of the ruling establishment with these social media platforms to set political narratives, which is not helpful for democracy and the democratic structure," Sonia Gandhi said.

Sonia Gandhi stated that global social media companies are not providing a level-playing field to all political parties. Further, she said that Facebook is being used to disturb social harmony in a "blatant manner".

"It has repeatedly come to public notice that global social media companies aren't providing a level playing field to all parties... [There is a] blatant manner in which social harmony is being disturbed by Facebook," she said in the Lok Sabha.

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She added, "Young and old minds are being filled with hate through emotionally charged disinformation and proxy advertising companies like Facebook are aware of it and are profiting from it. Reports show a growing nexus between big corporations, ruling establishment and global social media giants."

In her address, Sonia Gandhi urged the government to put an end to "systematic influence and interference of Facebook and other social media giants in electoral politics of the world's largest democracy".

"This is beyond parties and politics. We need to protect our democracy and social harmony, regardless of who's in power," she said.

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