Google removes 93,550 content pieces in August in India, shows compliance report

New Delhi

Google received 35,191 complaints from users and removed93,550 pieces of content based on those complaints in the month of August, thetech giant said in its monthly transparency report.

In addition to reports from users, Google alsoremoved 651,933 pieces of content in August as a result of automated detection.

Google had received 36,934 complaints from users and removed95,680 pieces of content based on those complaints in July. It had removed5,76,892 pieces of content in July as a result of automated detection.

The US-based company has made these disclosures as part ofcompliance with India's IT rules that came into force on May 26.

Google, in its latest report, said it had received 35,191complaints in August from individual users located in India viadesignated mechanisms, and the number of removal actions as a result of usercomplaints stood at 93,550.

These complaints relate to third-party content that isbelieved to violate local laws or personal rights on Google's significantsocial media intermediaries (SSMI) platforms, the report said.

''Some requests may allege infringement of intellectualproperty rights, while others claim violation of local laws prohibiting typesof content on grounds such as defamation. When we receive complaints regardingcontent on our platforms, we assess them carefully,'' it added.

The content removal was done under several categories,including copyright (92,750), trademark (721), counterfeit (32),circumvention (19), court order (12), graphic sexual content (12) and otherlegal requests (4).

Google explained that a single complaint may specifymultiple items that potentially relate to the same or different pieces ofcontent, and each unique URL in a specific complaint is considered anindividual ''item'' that is removed.

Google said in addition to reports from users, the companyinvests heavily in fighting harmful content online and use technology to detectand remove it from its platforms.

''This includes using automated detection processes for someof our products to prevent the dissemination of harmful content such as childsexual abuse material and violent extremist content. ''We balance privacy anduser protection to: quickly remove content that violates our CommunityGuidelines and content policies; restrict content (e.g., age-restrictcontent that may not be appropriate for all audiences); or leave the contentlive when it doesn't violate our guidelines or policies,'' it added.

Google said automated detection enables it to act morequickly and accurately to enforce its guidelines and policies. These removalactions may result in removing the content or terminating a bad actor's accessto the Google service, it added.

Under the new IT rules, large digital platforms - with over5 million users - will have to publish periodic compliance reports every month,mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon.

The report needs to also include the number of specificcommunication links or parts of the information that the intermediary hasremoved or disabled access to in pursuance of any proactive monitoringconducted by using automated tools.

Recently, Facebook and WhatsApp havealso released their compliance reports for the month of August.

Facebook said it had ''actioned'' about 31.7 million contentpieces across 10 violation categories proactively during August in the country,while its photo sharing platform, Instagram took action against about2.2 million pieces across nine categories during the same period proactively.

''Actioned'' content refers to the number of pieces ofcontent (such as posts, photos, videos or comments) where action has been takenfor violation of standards. Taking action could include removing a piece ofcontent from Facebook or Instagram or covering photos orvideos that may be disturbing to some audiences with a warning.

Also, Facebook said it had received 904 userreports for Facebook through its Indian grievance mechanismbetween August 1-31. Instagram had received 106 reports throughthe Indian grievance mechanism during the same time frame.

In its report, WhatsApp said it had banned overtwo million accounts in India, while 420 grievance reports were receivedby the messaging platform in the month of August.