
Facebook slapped down by Indian regulator over astroturf campaign - cant_kant
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2016/01/19/2150672/facebook-slapped-down-by-indias-regulator-over-astroturf-campaign/
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cant_kant
"Trai [ the Indian telecoms regulator] criticises Facebook for “reducing this
meaningful consultative exercise designed to produce informed decisions in a
transparent manner into a crudely majoritarian and orchestrated opinion poll”
and for claiming to speak on behalf of the users who were told to respond to
the consultation without, er, being shown any of the questions:

Equally of concern is your self-appointed spokesmanship on behalf of those who
have sent responses to TRAI using your platform. IT is noticed that you have
not been authorized by your users to speak on behalf of them collectively. No
disclosure in the act of sending a message to TRAI using your platform to this
effect has been issued to users. The only act to which such users have
consented is the following: ‘By clicking Send Email, you agree to let Facebook
send your name and this email to the TRAI.’

This does not in our view imply any consent on the part of the user to allow
Facebook to speak on their behalf as you have done, urging TRAI to hear ‘the
voice of these millions of Indians.’"

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cant_kant
And the letter to Facebook from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
[http://trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Miscelleneus/Document/20160...](http://trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Miscelleneus/Document/201601190319214139629TRAI_letter_to_FB_dated_18_01_2016.pdf)
( pdf )

Poor countries are not necessarily Facebook-fodder.

