This Article is From Jul 11, 2021

Amid Centre's Push Over IT Rules, Twitter Releases 1st Compliance Report

Twitter's transparency report that covers data from May 26 to June 25 this year includes harassment, defamation, terrorism and impersonation among others.

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Twitter has been locked in a bitter battle with the government over the new IT rules

New Delhi:

Social media giant Twitter, locked in a bitter battle with the government over the new digital rules, released its inaugural "transparency report" today - more than a month after the new digital rules came into effect. The report contains monthly data of how the microblogging site handled user complaints, including action taken, as well as the number of web links or URLs action was taken against.

"Going forward, we will be publishing this report on a monthly basis, and we are committed to making improvements over time, based on feedback received from the government, or in accordance with internal changes that allow for us to provide more granular data," the company said in the report.

The transparency report that covers data from May 26 to June 25 this year includes harassment, defamation, terrorism and impersonation among others. The report said 37 complaints were registered, of which 20 were on defamation.

The US-based company said it has acted against 132 tweets related to these complaints and flagged over 22,000.

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Over 18,000 tweets promoting nudity and child sexual exploitation have also been flagged, the company said. The report said over 4,000 tweets promoting terrorism were also flagged.

Twitter said internal tools and other initiatives have helped monitor the complaints and taking action.

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An "Information request" report was released as well, which includes the number of government information requests and the number of accounts specified in them.

Twitter has also appointed an Indian national today as its officer for grievances redressal required under the new digital rules of the country.

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The social media giant had initially clashed with the government over the new IT rules, which it said were against the Constitution.

Twitter had lost legal protection from prosecution over users' posts after its failure to comply with new digital rules, including appointment of Indian officials for the grievances and redressal system.

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The rules, which came into effect on May 26, have made it mandatory for large digital platforms to publish periodic compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken against them.

On July 2, Facebook said it "actioned" over 30 million content pieces across 10 violation categories during May 15-June 15. Google said it removed 59,350 links from its products, including YouTube, in April.

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