Officials Raise Questions over Indian Government's Efforts

Officials Raise Questions over Indian Government’s Efforts is a French Tribune news report by Bruce Totolos, published on 22 August 2012. The article covers the Indian government’s attempts to tackle online hate speech during the 2012 Assam communal violence, and quotes Sunil Abraham, then Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), on the slow response of internet intermediaries to content removal requests.

Article Details
Full Text
Context and Background

Article Details

📰 Published in:: French Tribune
📅 Date:: 22 August 2012
👤 Author:: Bruce Totolos
📄 Type:: News Report
🔗 Newspaper Link:: Not available

Full Text

As per a recent report, it has been revealed that the Indian government despite making several efforts to resolve the issue of hate speech seems failing in the same.

It is being said that no doubt the government has taken strict actions since the rumours came into picture from the last week. 245 Web pages have been blocked with effect from Friday along with limitations over text messages to five a day for 15 days. But, many websites are still containing some morphed images of violence.

As per some officials in New Delhi, it is a matter of huge concern still not being taken seriously by online companies like Google and Facebook. It is known to everyone that previous such images and SMSs led some northeastern India's people to leave Chennai, Bangalore and Pune, they say.

However, the internet firms claim that they are making all possible endeavours. It was told that only reason for not answering certain request was it hampered users' rights.

"The Internet intermediaries are responding slowly because now they have to trawl through their networks and identify hate speech. The government acted appropriately, but without sufficient sophistication", said executive director Sunil Abraham from the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore.

Context and Background

The article was published on 22 August 2012, one day before the more detailed coverage in the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail on the same episode. It focuses specifically on the government’s complaint that internet companies were not acting swiftly enough on removal requests.

Sunil Abraham’s quote draws a distinction between the appropriateness of the government’s action and the practical limitations of how intermediaries identify and remove hate speech at scale.