Male Dominance, Nudity Content Behind Slowing Growth Of Facebook Users In India: Meta’s Report

An internal study by social media giant Meta reportedly found that many women shunned Facebook in India owing to male dominance on the platform. 

The study conducted over a two-year period ending 2021 found a slew of problems, news agency Reuters reported.

The report added that nudity content, complex design of the Facebook app, literacy barriers, and lack of appeal were the other prime reasons that led to the decline in Facebook’s user growth. 

In February this year, Meta’s chief financial officer Dave Wehner said that high mobile data costs were one of the major reasons for a steep decline in Facebook’s user growth in India. 

Facebook’s user growth in Asia-Pacific and other allied regions was severely impacted by competition in the December quarter last year as compared to previous quarters when the COVID pandemic was at its peak and led to a surge in user engagement. 

As per the report, Meta clocked nearly 450 Mn Facebook users in India in November last year, which was larger than other countries where the social media platform is currently operating.

“Teams across the company should explicitly consider their strategic position and growth opportunities in India. Outcomes in India could drive global results,” the report added.

In November last year, Facebook had a user base of 447 Mn in India, much lower than that of its sister companies WhatsApp and Instagram. While WhatsApp had 563 Mn active users in India then, Instagram had 390 Mn active users.

Facebook’s performance in India is likely to impact parent Meta, which has lost more than half of its worth this year on bourses, and is also facing scrutiny from investors who are sceptical about its potential in the developing markets. 

As per Meta’s compliance report for the month of May 2022, the tech giant took action against 21.6 Mn content pieces in India that were posted on Instagram and Facebook.

Of the 17.5 actioned content pieces on Facebook, 9.3 Mn were categorised as spam, while 3.7 Mn content pieces were identified as violent and graphic content. The remaining 2.6 Mn were classified as adult nudity. 

Meanwhile, Meta’s messaging app Whatsapp reported that it banned over 1.9 Mn Indian accounts in the month of May, as per its compliance report.