Hate thrives unchecked on Clubhouse

Clubhouse. Heard of it? Surely, it sounds familiar? After all, it is being used by over 2.6 million people in India! The platform has encountered controversy from various people with regards to its privacy laws, as well as some of its users who have indulged in hate speech. So, let’s delve right into it. When launched in India, the application’s users grew rapidly. Reasons? For starters, its drop-in and drop-out format has made it desirable and different. Every user is allowed to actively host and take part in conversations with people across the globe.

Now, the is that the very thing that makes Clubhouse stand out from competitors is what has resulted in tremendous problems and criticism – its wide accessibility. Think of it, what’s to stop people from indulging in hate speech or making uncivilized, demeaning remarks against certain groups? And this is what has been happening – certain individuals have made offensive remarks. For example, a Kadamboor Neeraj could be heard making rather insensitive comments about “Sanghis”. Another incident is that of a Clubhouse conversation called ‘Christian Youths, This Way’, which was held by some Christian groups. It is said that this group spent three days talking at length about ‘Love Jihad’ in Malayalam. Dilip Nenmelil, who had joined the discussion, reported that the group was aiming to spread ‘communal hatred’. “The propaganda was vile and no opposing person was allowed to speak”. Another attendee expressed that the Muslim community was being targeted. “They said Christian girls are kidnapped in the name of love and taken to Syria. They were cherry-picking incidents and blaming a community but the truth is far from that”. In response to these incidents and accusations, Paul Davison, the CEO and co-founder of Clubhouse, in April reported that these rooms would be shut down and some users would be denied access to the platform. But is simply shutting down a few rooms and removing some users enough? One thing is clear – the need for change. As the Indian Freedom Foundation puts it, Clubhouse must “streamline [its] data protection and data processing practices to ensure the digital security of its users”. Referring to a few recent events, IFF also stated that Clubhouse needs to “respect privacy, provide redressal against hate speech, and ensure due process and transparency when it censors content.” It emphasized that sufficient safeguards against disinformation, discrimination and security threats need to be provided.

Apart from this, there have been privacy complaints. IFF brings to light that Clubhouse collects a plethora of data ranging from an individual’s IP address to their device name to duration and frequency of interaction with users. It also offers an option for users to synchronize their social media accounts to the app with much ease. Furthermore, Clubhouse’s data-sharing practices have been termed “nebulous”.

Although Paul Davison has addressed these issues and made some promising statements in an exclusive interview with the Financial Express, the ramifications of unfair usage of data remain unclear.

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