Grievance Appeal Committee (GAC) orders to social media platforms dropped to four orders in August 2024, from the 41 orders recorded by social media intermediaries in July 2024. The four orders were reported by WhatsApp , with Facebook and Instagram reporting none. This is the first time in 2024 that the number of GAC orders issued to platforms has reached single digits.

What is GAC? This is the final entity that users can contact for grievance resolution under the amended IT Rules of 2021. The GAC orders are binding on platforms that wish to retain their Safe Harbor protections . However, there is no information about the nature of the orders sent by it.

Apart from orders, user complaints have shown a downward trend on some platforms like WhatsApp, X and Facebook. Others, like Instagram, have been trending upward since July.

Highlights from the August Transparency Reports

The following trends in user complaints were observed between August 1 and 31, according to transparency reports from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Google and Meta’s X (July 26 to August 25):

User complaints are decreasing on WhatsApp and Facebook: Complaints about WhatsApp fell to 10,707 complaints in August, compared to 34,650 user complaints in July. Complaints from Facebook users also declined, from 27,030 in July to 24,724 in August. Meanwhile, Instagram received 13,075 complaints in August, compared to 10,442 reports in July. User complaints on Google user complaints increased from 24,303 complaints in July to 26,740 complaints in August, with copyright complaints accounting for 24,337 complaints.

WhatsApp bans more than 80,000,000 accounts: The number of Indian accounts banned on WhatsApp increased to 84.6 lakh in August from 61.3 lakh in July. WhatsApp also received 4,788 ban calls and took action on 15 of them. On X, account suspension requests increased from 58 in July to 369 in August, of which 13 were canceled. In total, the platform took action against 3,474 URLs based on user complaints. Additionally, X suspended 1,42,104 accounts globally for child sexual exploitation in August, compared to 89,667 accounts suspended in July. It also suspended 1,281 accounts for promoting terrorism. Google has performed 83,511 removal actions based on user complaints and 6.99 lakh removal actions through automated detection. Facebook provided tools to resolve issues for 16,874 reports and took action on 5,099 reports. Instagram provided tools for 7,403 reports and took action on 3,140 reports in total.

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Reports of child abuse are decreasing on X and Facebook: Complaints regarding child sexual exploitation on X decreased to 52 grievances in August from 138 grievances in July. The platform has taken action against 11 URLs in this regard. Facebook reported 82,900 cases of child nudity and physical abuse and 1.36 lakh cases of child exploitation in August. In July, the platform reported 92,100 cases of child nudity and physical abuse and 1.40 lakh cases of child sexual exploitation. On the other hand, cases of child sexual exploitation increased from 6.44 lakh in July to 13 lakh in August. Cases of child nudity and physical abuse decreased slightly from 1.32 lakh cases in July to 1.23 lakh cases in August.

Facebook and Instagram reported more than 20 million self-harm posts: Facebook took action on 11 lakh pieces of such content in August, while Instagram took action on 16 lakh pieces of content. X reported 38 complaints about self-harm content, but took no action on any of these complaints. In July, X received 12 such complaints and also took no action at that time.

For those seeking help during these difficult times, NGOs like AASRA offer a 24/7 helpline number 91-9820466726, available in English and Hindi. Another helpline available is 915298782.

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