Comparitech. in a research report of October 2021, mentioned that the Indian government had, until 2020, sent 97,631 content removal requests to Twitter, Google, Facebook, YouTube and others
“India’s 17,338 legal demands between 2012 and 2021 account for 7% of the global legal demands (amounting) to 225,076 worldwide,” says an internal report prepared by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Apparently, India’s orders for content blocking and takedowns issued to Twitter was only 7% of the cumulative legal demands received by the microblogging platform in the decade up to 2021, and were “proportional” to the expanding user base of the San Francisco-based company in the country, according to an official review. Incidentally, Twitter has 2.36 crore Indian users, the third-largest user base in the world.
Twitter had an overall compliance rate of 13% in the United States, 21%in Brazil, 16% in Canada, 38% in Japan and 19% in New Zealand. “While in India it is just 11%. More worrisome is that there were 76 Indian court orders to Twitter, of which (it has) complied with only 34% as per Twitter’s transparency report,” the MeitY analysis stated
“India is 7% of Twitter’s global user base and so is the volume of removal requests, (from India),” according to the official analysis, reported ET. The report has also provided comparisons: “Japan which accounts for 18% of Twitter’s global user base has issued 32% of global legal demands while South Korea has issued 5% of removal requests with just a 2% user base,” the report revealed.
The report comes on the heels of Twitter and the central government contesting the increase in the number of official demands for takedowns and account blocks. Some days ago, Twitter approached the Karnataka High Court challenging 39 blocking orders issued by the IT ministry.
On its part, the government has said that its takedown requests were in sync with internet consumption in the country. Reports indicate that cybersecurity firms have totaled the number of legal demands made by India till 2020 — to Twitter and other such platforms – and they were just below those issued by Russia, which leads globally in the number of requests made. Comparitech. in a research report of October 2021, mentioned that the Indian government had, until 2020, sent 97,631 content removal requests to Twitter, Google, Facebook, YouTube and others.
MeitY has claimed that Twitter’s compliance rate in India was “abysmally low” compared to its action in other countries. Twitter had an overall compliance rate of 13% in the United States, 21%in Brazil, 16% in Canada, 38% in Japan and 19% in New Zealand. “While in India it is just 11%. More worrisome is that there were 76 Indian court orders to Twitter, of which (it has) complied with only 34% as per Twitter’s transparency report,” the MeitY analysis stated.
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