Facebook, Instagram Removed 2.7 Crore Posts in India in July: Details

Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook and Instagram took action against a total of 2.7 crore posts on the social media platforms in July, according to its monthly report. The firm, which is an intermediary under the IT Rules, took down 1.73 crore spam posts and 23 lakh posts for violent and graphic content, as part of its efforts to comply with the government’s regulations for social media platforms. Meta also published details of actions taken on complaints under the grievance redressal mechanism, stating it had responded to 100 percent of user reports.  

In its monthly report under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, for July published on Wednesday, Meta revealed that the company had removed 2.5 crore posts on Facebook, and 20 lakh posts on Instagram in July. The company publishes regular reports on actions taken on content during the previous month. 

According to Meta’s latest report, the company removed 1.73 crore instances of spam on Facebook, with a “proactive rate” of 99.6 percent. In addition to the action taken on spam, 1.1 lakh posts related to hate speech, 23 lakh posts related to violent and graphic content, and 27 lakh posts with nudity and sexual content were removed from the platform with proactive detection rates of 99.9 and 99.4 percent, respectively. 

The company says that over 9 lakh posts on Instagram were related to suicide and self-injury, while over 22,000 instances of hate speech and 3.7 lakh posts related to nudity and sexual content were removed from the photo and video sharing service.  The proactive detection rates for these types of content were 99.5 percent, 77.4 percent, and 96 percent, respectively. 

Under the IT Rules, Meta’s social media platforms are expected to respond to users’ complaints via a grievance redressal mechanism. The company said that it received 626 and 1033 reports from users on Facebook and Instagram respectively, and claims that it responded to all user reports. 

On Facebook, the company resolved the issues for 603 reports by providing appropriate tools, taking action on nine out of the 23 remaining complaints based on the company’s policies. 

Meanwhile, on Instagram, the company says it resolved issues for users in in 945 cases with the help of the required tools, while action was taken on 35 of the remaining 88 reports, according to Meta. The company says it expects to publish subsequent editions of the report with a delay of 30 to 45 days after the reporting period.