Google removed 104,285 items of bad content based on user complaints in January this year – an increase from 94,173 items of bad content removed in December, the tech giant said in its monthly report in accordance to the new Indian IT rules 2021.
The tech giant received 33,995 complaints from users in India in January. These claims related to third-party content that may violate local laws or human rights on various Google platforms.
“The complaints consist of different categories. Some requests may allege infringement of intellectual property rights, while others allege violation of local laws prohibiting types of content on grounds such as defamation,” Google said in a statement.
The 104,285 pieces of content were removed in various categories such as copyright, trademarks, court order, graphic sexual content, circumvention and others.
Google said it also removed 401,374 pieces of content as part of automated detection during the aforementioned period.
“In addition to reports from our users, we invest heavily in combating harmful content online and use technology to detect and remove it from our platforms,” it said in its monthly compliance report.
“This includes using automated detection processes for some of our products to prevent the dissemination of harmful content such as child pornography and violent extremist content,” he added.
In accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Ethics) Rules 2021 (IT Rules), Google, along with other social media platforms, is mandated to publish monthly reports report containing details of complaints received from users in India and the United States. actions taken, as well as removal actions taken as a result of automated detection.
Under the new 2021 IT rules, major digital and social media platforms – with over 5 million users – must publish monthly compliance reports.
“We evaluate content reported to us in accordance with our Community Guidelines, Content Policies, and/or Legal Policies,” Google said.