Google Removed 689K Content Pieces In July 2022 In India

Google received 37,173 complaints from users in India through various grievance redressal mechanisms in July 2022 and removed 6,89,457 pieces of content during the month, the tech giant said in its Monthly Transparency Report. 

The month of July saw a rise in both the number of complaints and the content removal action by Google in India. The number of complaints rose 13.61% month-on-month (MoM), while the number of content pieces removed increased by 7.67%.

Over 96% of the complaints received during the month were related to copyright infringement, while the rest of the complaints were divided across eight other categories.

Google removed 1,37,657 pieces of content across various categories based on user complaints, with 98.3% of the content being removed for copyright infringement.

“When we receive complaints from individual users regarding allegedly unlawful or harmful content, we assess each item to determine if the content violates our Community Guidelines or content policies, or meets local legal requirements for removal,” Google said in the process of removing content.

Incidentally, even as Google received 252 complaints for defamatory content, it removed no such content in July. Similarly, Google took no action on the 362 complaints it received under the ‘Other Legal’ section. The US-based tech giant also did not take action on 19 court orders it received in July.

Google removes a majority of the content that violates its community guidelines automatically. In July, 5,51,800 such pieces of content were removed. “Automated detection enables us to act more quickly and accurately to enforce our guidelines and policies,” Google said.

Under the IT Rules, 2021, social media intermediaries with more than 5 Mn users in India are mandated to submit a compliance report every month. Social media players such as Meta and Twitter also publish their compliance reports each month.

In its compliance report, Twitter said it received 1,253 complaints in India between June 26 and July 25, while it took action on around 138 URLs. The micro-blogging platform also blocked over 45,000 accounts during the period. Meanwhile, Meta-owned WhatsApp banned 2.3 Mn Indian accounts in July, according to its compliance report.

On Friday (September 2), Google launched its pilot project for user choice billing after facing much criticism and a probe by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The pilot will allow non-gaming developers to offer alternative payment options to customers in India.