Facebook took action against more than 3 crore content pieces between May 15 and June 15, PTI reported on Friday, citing a monthly report released by the social media platform.
The new social media rules introduced by the Centre mandate a monthly compliance report from social media companies. This is the first such report released by Facebook.
Of the 3 crore posts against which Facebook said it took “proactive action”, 18 lakh contained adult nudity and sexual activity, 25 lakh were related to violent and graphic content, while 2.5 crore of them were spam, The Indian Express reported, citing the monthly report.
Instagram, a photo and video sharing platform owned by Facebook, took action against 4.9 lakh pieces of content containing adult nudity or sexual activity, and 6.68 lakh posts with violent and graphic content.
“We use a combination of artificial intelligence, reports from our community, and review by our teams to identify and review content against our policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told the newspaper. “We will continue to add more information and build on these efforts towards transparency as we evolve this report.”
Facebook said that it took action against posts, photos, videos or comments that were against its standards, the Business Standard reported. “Taking action could include removing a piece of content from Facebook or Instagram or covering photos or videos that may be disturbing to some audiences with a warning,” the social platform said.
The report published now is an interim one, Facebook said, adding that another report with details of user complaints received and action taken on them, will be released on July 15. “We expect to publish subsequent editions of the report with a lag of 30-45 days after the reporting period to allow sufficient time for data collection and validation,” Facebook said.
A sweeping set of rules were issued on February 25 to regulate social media companies, streaming, and digital news content. The new rules virtually bring these platforms, for the first time, under the ambit of government supervision.
One of the provisions under the new rules mandate social media intermediaries with more than 50 lakh users in India to publish the monthly reports. The reports should mention details of complaints received against contents on the platforms, the action taken on them, and the number of specific communication links that the platform removed through proactive monitoring.
On June 30, Google became the first company to publish its compliance report. The technology company said that it received 27,762 complaints between April and April 30. Of these complaints, 26,707 or 96% were related to copyright matters. The company removed 59,350 pieces of content based on these complaints, according to The Indian Express.
New social media rules
Social media companies and the Centre have been at odds over the new Information Technology rules that were introduced in February and came to effect in May.
Apart from the monthly compliance report, provisions under the rules require social media platforms to appoint chief compliance officers, in order to make sure the rules are followed, nodal officers, to coordinate with law enforcement agencies, and grievance officers. It also requires social media platforms with over 50 lakh users to help in identifying the “originator” of messages upon the government’s request.
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