Over 27 million ‘bad content’ removed from Instagram, Facebook in India during June: Meta

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has disclosed that it removed more than 27 million instances of ‘bad content’ in India during June, spanning across 25 distinct policies.

This significant removal effort consisted of approximately 21.8 million pieces of content that violated 13 policies on Facebook, and approximately 5.9 million pieces violating 12 policies on Instagram.

The revelation of these figures was unveiled within Meta’s monthly report, a compliance measure in accordance with the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. According to these rules, major digital and social media platforms with over 5 million users are mandated to release monthly compliance reports.

In explaining its content moderation process, Meta stated, “We measure the number of pieces of content (such as posts, photos, videos or comments) we take action on for going against our standards. Taking action could include removing a piece of content from Facebook or Instagram or covering photos or videos that may be disturbing to some audiences with a warning.”

Meta lists numbers of reports on Facebook, Instagram; says not every report actioned

Regarding user reports and interactions on Facebook, the company documented that it received 22,437 reports through the Indian grievance mechanism. Moreover, it extended tools for issue resolution in 3,507 instances, encompassing diverse matters like reporting content violations, addressing hacked accounts, and retrieving user data.

Meta further detailed, “Of the other 18,930 reports where specialised review was needed, we reviewed content as per our policies, and we took action on 4,916 reports in total. The remaining 14,014 reports were reviewed but may not have been actioned.”

Similarly, on Instagram, Meta encountered 19,913 reports through the Indian grievance mechanism. Out of these, 6,155 cases were resolved by empowering users with tools for resolution. For the remaining 13,758 reports necessitating specific review, Meta executed actions on a total of 4,913 instances. The remaining 8,845 reports were reviewed but may not have been actioned, the company’s reports said.