Over the past ten years, the Indian government has requested tech giant Google to remove around 1.155 Lakh content pieces from its various platforms, including YouTube and web browsers, as per a report by Surfshark.
Between 2013 and 2022, Indian government agencies requested Google to take down content more than 19,600 times, primarily citing ‘defamation’ as a common reason.
Of all the platforms managed by Google, YouTube’s content attracted major scrutiny from the Indian government.
“Most of the content India requested to remove was from YouTube (8.8k), Google Play Apps (4.3k) and Web Search (1.4k),” the study further said.
The Indian government made a total of 19,600 requests for content removal from Google. On average, the government made five requests per day during the last ten years.
The data reflects a global pattern of governments using content removal requests as a means of information control. The findings also note that over the past decade, there have been more than 355,000 governmental requests for content removal, with 2022 witnessing a record-breaking 50% increase in removal requests.
Around the globe, governments have sought content removal from 50 distinct Google products, spanning Images, YouTube, Maps and more. The most frequently requested products include YouTube (175k), Google Search (104k) and Blogger (17k).
As per the study, India has become the third-highest contributor to content removal requests directed at Google, signalling a significant trend in the past decade.
“Government requests for content removal from Google products are on the rise. In the past decade, the global count has surged nearly 13 times — from 7k to 91k requests annually,” the report added.
“A notable increase in content removal requests to Google by governments around the world during times of international conflicts and wars prompts us to consider the balance between genuine interest in a country’s public safety and the potential encroachment into censorship,” said Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark.
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