Catergory

Social Media

Instagram Wants to Throttle Politics

Meta rolls out a feature limiting recommendation of political content on Instagram and Threads before an important election cycle but with little to no transparency or informed consent.
04 April, 2024
7 min read

#DoTheRightsThing: Meta’s HRIA for India

Gearing up for the 2024 general elections, we bring you #DoTheRightsThing. This series aims to assess the reporting on human rights impact undertaken by significant platforms—the first in line, Meta's 2023 annual Human Rights Report.
14 October, 2023
8 min read

“Intermediaries can decide if they want to take down ‘fake’ information” - The Union Government concludes its submissions in petition challenging the IT Amendment Rules, 2023

During its submissions before the Bombay HC in a challenge to the IT Amendment Rules, 2023, the Union Govt clarified that this fact check unit will focus on patently false govt-related content, and that its role is only to flag, leaving the final call to intermediaries.
28 September, 2023
4 min read

Our comments on Draft 2.0 of the UNESCO Guidelines on Regulating Digital Platforms

We submitted our comments on draft 2.0 of the UNESCO Guidelines on Regulating Digital Platforms (“Guidelines”) on March 08, 2023. Having participated in the consultation for draft 1.1 of the Guidelines, we built upon our existing comments and inserted additional analysis.
13 March, 2023
4 min read

A round-up of WhatsApp’s failed attempts to block the Competition Commission’s investigation

In October 2021, IFF submitted expert information in the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) suo moto investigation into potential anti-competitive practices of WhatsApp Inc. (‘WhatsApp).
31 October, 2022
5 min read

#SocialMediaComplianceWatch: analysis of Social Media Compliance Reports for the month of May 2022

tl;dr Google (including YouTube), Koo, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ShareChat, Snap, Twitter and WhatsApp have released their reports in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021 for the month of May, 2022. The latest of these was published by WhatsApp on July 1, 2022. The reports contain similar shortcomings, which exhibit lack of effort on the part of the social media intermediaries and the government to further transparency and accountability in platform governance. The intermediar
26 September, 2022
12 min read

#SocialMediaComplianceWatch: analysis of Social Media Compliance Reports for the month of April 2022

Google (including YouTube), Koo, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ShareChat, Snap, Twitter and WhatsApp have released their reports in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021 for the month of April, 2022.
26 September, 2022
12 min read

Further disclosures by Facebook whistleblower reveal political bias

Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang has made fresh disclosures which raise further concerns about Facebook's functioning in India.
20 June, 2022
4 min read

#SocialMediaComplianceWatch: analysis of Social Media Compliance Reports for the month of March 2022

Google (including YouTube), Koo, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ShareChat, Snap, Twitter and WhatsApp have released their reports in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021 for the month of March, 2022.
27 May, 2022
12 min read

#SocialMediaComplianceWatch: analysis of Social Media Compliance Reports for the month of February 2022

> > > > tl;dr Google (including YouTube), Koo, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ShareChat, Snap, Twitter and WhatsApp have released their reports in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021 for the month of February, 2022. The latest of these was published by WhatsApp and was published on April 1, 2022. The reports contain similar shortcomings, which exhibit lack of effort on the part of the social media intermediaries and the government to further transparency and accountability in
16 April, 2022
11 min read

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