India made 40,300 requests for user data, 2nd only to US: Facebook

Facebook restricted 878 pieces of content in India on the directions of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology between July and December 2020, the social media giant revealed in its latest edition of its transparency report. This included content against the security of state and public order, the report said.

10 content pieces were restricted temporarily while access to 54 pieces was restricted in compliance with court orders. The restrictions were enforced for violating Section 69(A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, which allows the state to not to provide any reason for content takedown. The report indicated that number of government requests for restricting content has increased by 28.9% in the second half of 2020 compared to the first half when the government made 681 such requests. India made 40,300 requests for user data between July and December second only to the United States. Of these 37865 were marked for legal process while 2435 were emergency disclosure requests.