Indian government requests for Facebook data rose 62% in 2017
New Delhi, May 16: Facebook has recorded massive increase in the total number of Indian government requests for data over the past one year -- a rise of nearly 62 per cent in 2017 compared to the global average of 30 per cent.
In its transparency report released on Tuesday, Facebook said that it received a total of 22,024 requests from India in 2017 compared to 13,613 in 2016 - a rise of 61.7 per cent.
Facebook provided data for about half of the requests.
The total number of government requests for data the social network received from around the world in 2017 was 161,231 as compared to 123,508 -- an increase of 30.5 per cent.
Government requests for account data increased globally by around four percent compared to the first half of 2017, increasing from 78,890 to 82,341 requests.
In the US, government requests remained roughly even at 32,742 in the second half of 2017, Facebook said in its report.
Facebook said it responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and is terms of service.
The social networking major also accepts government requests to preserve account information pending receipt of formal legal process.
"When we receive a preservation request, we will preserve a temporary snapshot of the relevant account information but will not disclose any of the preserved records unless and until we receive formal and valid legal process," Facebook said.
The Facebook report also showed an increase in the number of posts identified as containing graphic violence in the first of quarter of 2018.
"Of every 10,000 content views, an estimate of 22 to 27 contained graphic violence, compared to an estimate of 16 to 19 last quarter," Xinhua quoted the report as saying.
It said the growth was a possible result of a higher volume of graphic violence content shared on Facebook in the first three months of this year.
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UN: India calls on international community to act together against ISIS, Al Qaeda
United Nations (PTI): India has called on the international community to act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies, underlining that terrorism is an “existential threat” to international peace and security.
“Terrorism is an existential threat to international peace and security. It knows no borders, nationality, or race, and is a challenge that the international community must combat collectively,” First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Raghoo Puri said on Wednesday.
In remarks to the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) annual ambassadorial level briefing to Member States, Puri recalled the April 2025 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, carried out by The Resistance Front, a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN listed terror organisation. The terror attack led to the loss of lives of 26 tourists.
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“We must act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies,” he said, adding that as a country which itself has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for the past nearly three decades, “India is acutely aware of the socio-economic and human cost of terrorism, especially for its victims.”
India added its voice in stressing on the importance of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) as a central instrument for multilateral cooperation.
Puri said India will remain steadfast and engaged in the consultations for the 9th review of the GCTS, assuring full cooperation to co-facilitators Finland and Morocco during negotiations in the process.
Puri also highlighted that as Chair of the Counter Terrorism Committee in 2022, India has striven to bring these principles into the counter-terrorism architecture of the UN and into the debate on terrorism at the United Nations.
“Our follow up initiatives both in New York and around the world stand testimony to our commitment,” including the ‘Delhi Declaration’ - a landmark document to deal with the issue of countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, an issue Puri said is of acute importance for several Member States.
In October 2022, the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), chaired by India that year, had organised a special meeting in New Delhi and Mumbai on the overarching theme of ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’.
As an outcome of the special meeting, the committee had adopted the ‘Delhi Declaration’ on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
India continues to work closely with the UN via its various entities to build capacity and make its partners future ready to take on the ever-evolving scourge of terrorism, he said.
