Facebook, in its ‘Global Government Request Report’, recently claimed that India had made 5,473 user data requests (between July-December, 2014) to it for blocking pages, seeking account holders’ information and other details.
However, cyber crime sleuths of CID have claimed that not all requests were entertained. In nearly 50% of the cases, FB honchos did not oblige requests from the state police. They claimed that they had sent requests only when content related to blasphemy, hate speeches and related videos, fake profiles of women and other defamatory activities against female users came to their notice.
Of the 5,832 content restrictions obliged by Facebook at India’s request, Telangana and AP police have a significant share. “We send requests to Facebook if any crime is committed through it. They immediately send an acknowledgment and later use their discretion based on the content. So, in many cases, they simply reject it. For the entire process, FB authorities take nearly a month for replying, whether accepting or rejecting the request. The month-long waiting period delays the investigation,” a senior CID officer told TOI.
