Facebook, which has rebranded itself “Meta,” published a “compliance report” on Tuesday that said 24.6 million pieces of content were censored in India in March. Another 2.7 million pieces of content were deleted on the Instagram platform.
“The report describes our efforts to remove harmful content from Facebook and Instagram, and demonstrate our continued commitment to making Facebook and Instagram safe and inclusive,” Meta said in a statement quoted by the Times of India (TOI).
“We use a combination of artificial intelligence, reports from our community, and review by our teams to identify and review content against our policies,” the statement said.
According to the compliance report, Meta received 656 reports of objectionable content through the “Indian grievance system” for Facebook and 1,150 reports for Instagram. Meta said it responded to 100 percent of these reports.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attend a Townhall meeting, at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on September 27, 2015. (SUSANA BATES/AFP via Getty Images)
In most of the Facebook incidents and about half of the Instagram reports, Meta said it “provided tools for users to resolve their own issues.”
The remainder of the millions of pieces of deleted content were reportedly discovered by Facebook staff or automated systems. Most of the deleted items were classified as “spam,” but 2.5 million allegedly contained “violent and graphic content,” and 2.1 million contained “content related to adult nudity and sexual activity.”
India imposed a controversial set of Internet regulations in May 2021 that required social media platforms to “publish a monthly compliance report with details of complaints received and actions taken.”
The companies were also required to appoint a “chief compliance officer” and a “grievance redressal officer” who lives in India. Social media companies were heavily pressured into compliance by Indian courts.
The first publicized invocation of the “IT 2021 Rules” involved banning twenty YouTube channels and two websites in December for allegedly hosting “anti-India propaganda from Pakistan.” Under the rules, social media platforms are required to delete content “threatening the security of India” within 24 hours of receiving a duly-filed complaint from any individual.
Indian government agencies can also require content to be deleted and accounts to be blocked. In late April, the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) ordered 22 YouTube channels blocked for spreading “disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations, and public order.”
“The Government of India remains committed towards ensuring an authentic, trustworthy, and safe online news media environment, and thwarting any attempts at undermining India’s sovereignty and integrity, national security, foreign relations, and public order,” MIB stated.
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