Over 59,000 content pieces removed in April in India, says Google in its first transparency report
India’s new information technology rules require social media platforms with more than 50 lakh users to publish compliance report every month.
Google on Wednesday published its first monthly transparency report in compliance with India’s new information technology rules, which became effective on May 26.
The rules require social media platforms with more than 50 lakh users in India to publish compliance report every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken. The platforms also need to mention the number of specific communication links or parts of information they have removed or disabled access to after “proactive monitoring” via automated tools.
In its report, Google said it has removed 59,350 pieces of content in April, following 27,762 complaints from users in India.
“These complaints relate to third-party content that is believed to violate local laws or personal rights on Google’s SSMI [significant social media intermediary] platforms,” the report said. “This data also includes individual user complaints accompanied by a court order.”
The company said 96.2% of the complaints received were related to copyright, followed by trademark (1.3%), defamation (1%), legal (1%), counterfeit (0.4%) and circumvention (0.1%).
Google also explained that each unique URL in a specific complaint was considered an
“individual item”, which is why the number of removals is higher than total complaints received from users. “A single complaint may specify multiple items that potentially relate to the same or different pieces of content,” it added.
A Google spokesperson told PTI that the company has a “long history of providing transparency” into the different types of requests it receives from around the world, and how it responds to them.
“All of these requests are tracked and included in our existing transparency report since 2010,” the spokesperson added. “This is the first time we will publish a monthly transparency report in accordance with the new IT Rules, and will continue to publish more details as we refine our reporting processes for India.”
On Tuesday, social media giant Facebook said it will publish an interim report on July 2 with information about the content removed from its platform between May 15 and June 15. A final report, the company said, will be published on July 15, containing details of user complaints received and the action taken, along with data related to WhatsApp.