The government of India has asked Social Media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp owner Meta to process and complete content takedown orders issued by authorities within one hour of receiving such official communication. The discussion has taken place in November last week between Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg and Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw along with other senior MeitY (Ministry of electronics and information technology) officials. In this discussion Union, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Google was doing better than Meta in terms of compliance with takedown requests.
In 2021, a series of IT Rules amendments were issued where the social media platforms are required to remove the content as soon as possible but no later than 36 hours after such a request is made by a court or an appropriate government agency. They are also required to respond to user complaints about the content within 24 hours and to resolve such complaints within 15 days of receipt.
