UK aid money has been invested in an Indian fund that backed a social media site featuring offers of sexual services and glorification of the Hamas attack on Israel, a watchdog has found.
ICAI’s chief commissioner Dr Tamsyn Barton, who led the review of UK aid to India, said: “Given how difficult it is to moderate large social media platforms to remove harmful content, we have to question why BII chose to invest in the India Quotient Fund and did not consider the reputational risk. International Development Committee chairwoman Sarah Champion said she will write to the Foreign Secretary
“To add to our specific concerns about BII losing track and control of the outcomes of its spending through financial intermediaries, just two months after that assurance from its executives last year BII invested in the India Quotient Fund IV.