Amid debates on the role of social media networks in censoring inflammatory content on their platforms, a new survey has found that nearly 90 per cent of citizens want these firms proactively removing offensive and rumour-based content in India.
Over 14,000 people participated in the survey by online community network LocalCircles.
Asked if social media platforms should remove offensive, hate and rumour-based content proactively, a majority 89 per cent voted yes, while 8 per cent said no.
“This discussion was initiated after many issues raised by citizens all across India on the subject of hate, abuse and harassment prevalent on social media and an urgent need to do something about it,” Founder of LocalCircles Sachin Taparia said.
Recently, the European Commission, together with IT companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft, announced a code of conduct to combat the spread of illegal hate speech online in Europe.
Among other things, these companies have committed to proactively monitor social media and remove any hate or offensive content within 24 hours of posting.
On the question if social media companies in India should follow a similar code of conduct, 89 per cent answered in the affirmative. About 78 per cent said that social media companies such as Twitter should also be responsible for taking actions against accounts that engage in trolling and abuse others.
On Friday, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi held meeting with a team from Twitter India to iron out details of how harassment & hateful conduct on social media platform can be handled.
Ms Maneka Gandhi also announced that women being harassed on Twitter can reach out to her by using the hashtag which was #IamTrolledHelp.
Separately, Zakir Naik is under the scanner of Indian law enforcement authorities over his “hate speech.”
