Social media companies file compliance report under India’s new IT rules

iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-

A few months back, in the month of May, the Indian government had introduced a new set of IT regulations, especially aimed at US digital firms, and had made it mandatory for them to abide by it.

Companies like Google and Facebook had no other choice but to comply. Keeping in line with the new rules many firms have filed a compliance report to the government, including Google and Indian-based microblogging app Koo.

As per the new IT law, large social media companies need to publish periodic compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.

Social media companies have to submit a compliance report every month, in accordance with Rule 4(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 of the Government of India.

Koo, has filed its compliance report for the month of June 2021. The company in its report states that it will publish the report on the first day of each month, and it will be available on the public platform.

The report for June 2021 shows that of the 5,502 complaints reported by the users, 22.7 percent (1,253) were removed, while other action was taken against the rest 4,249. Similarly, Koo took steps to proactively moderate 54,235 accounts, of which 2.2 percent (1,996) were removed while other actions were taken against the rest 52,239.

‘Other action’ includes overlay, blur, ignore, warn, etc., of accounts that do not comply with Government of India guidelines.

Aprayameya Radhakrishna, Founder & CEO, Koo said: “As Koo gains tractions across India, we will ensure that Koo respects the law of the land and meets the requirements, enabling every country to define its own digital ecosystem. This Compliance Report is one step in that direction.”

“As part of Koo’s continued efforts to make social media a safer place and provide transparency for users, we are happy to be the first social media platform to publish a Compliance Report. We will continue to make efforts to make social media a safe place for all users,” he added.

Google has submitted its first compliance report, in which it stated that it received 27,762 complaints during the period between April 1 and April 30, of which 26,707 or 96 percent were for copyright. The company acted on 59,350 requests raised by users during the period, a majority of which again were related to copyright infringement.

In its next report, the platform will also include data on removals done on the basis of automated selection as well as data on impersonation and graphic sexual content complaints that it has received after May 25.

“Some requests may allege infringement of intellectual property rights, while others claim violation of local laws prohibiting types of content on grounds such as defamation. When we receive complaints regarding content on our platforms, we review them carefully,” Google said in the report.

Social media giant Facebook has informed the government that it will submit its report on July 2 which will be an interim report, the full report will be published by July 15.

The July 15 report by Facebook will also contain data related to WhatsApp. The report will have details of user complaints received and action taken.

Facebook spokesperson said, “In accordance with the IT Rules, we’ll publish an interim report for the period May 15-June 15 on July 2. This report will contain details of the content that we have removed proactively using our automated tools.”