If recently announced job postings are an indication Facebook is building a global team of public policy directors in regions ranging from the Middle East to Scandinavia to help guide the social media company through legislative and regulatory issues as it continues its worldwide expansion. Already 70 percent of Facebook users log onto the site from outside of the United States.
For India this means the search is on for a “Head of Public Policy” who will be charged with advancing Facebook’s “mission to make the world more open and connected” by serving as the company’s main contact with the Indian government and policymakers.
Kumiko Hidaka a spokesperson for Facebook told Firstpost in an email that “amongst other things this role will monitor the Indian political environment for policy issues that interest the company and work with political bodies and non-governmental organizations on issues of privacy/data protection safety and security intellectual property net neutrality and other Internet-relevant public policy concerns.”
Google has had similar positions since 2006 to provide the company with intel on relevant policy coming down the pike and to put out fires that flare up outside of US borders.
Social media Indian style
Given Facebook’s interest in Indian internet policy there may be some things that Facebook the corporation needs to ensure doesn’t get lost in translation as it makes its head wonk hire.
Gunjan Bagla managing director of US-Asia business consultancy Amritt Inc. for example noted that India’s privacy and digital laws and practices are still evolving.
“Social media companies need to [be] sensitive not just to literal interpretations of current law but to societal values and sensitivities in-country” Bagla wrote in an email. “In addition new Indian laws are often inspired by American and European practices so it would be wise to work within those boundaries. Companies such as in Research In Motion Blackberry have been surprised by demands from the Indian government in the recent past social media companies should be ready as their footprint in India grows.”
He added that American notions of privacy and openness may not play out exactly the same way in India. “While organizations such as the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation bemoan how intrusive the US government has become in the wake of Patriot Act citizens in countries such [as] India have tolerated greater government intrusion despite their democratic traditions” he said. “National security parental rights and the safety of young people can overrule individual freedoms more frequently than in the USA.”
Ultimately Bagla said Facebook needs to embrace how social media is used within an Indian context. “India is a hierarchical society and web tools such as Facebook tend to be egalitarian” he said. “Users may bend social media usage to yield to respect for bosses for elders and for people in power” he wrote. “Facebook needs to treat such bending of practices as more than an idiosyncracy. Being insensitive to these parameters can cause disproportionate adverse reactions against foreign companies.”
What do you think Facebook should know about the Indian social media market?
