Mumbai Police pulled down 12,537 ‘objectionable’ posts in 2019

Mumbai: The city police pulled down an average of 35 posts daily in 2019 because they were deemed to have objectionable content, senior Mumbai Police officials told

Mumbai: The city police pulled down an average of 35 posts daily in 2019 because they were deemed to have objectionable content, senior Mumbai Police officials told Hindustan Times. The Social Media Lab (SML) of special branch-1, which is the intelligence wing of Mumbai Police, removed over 12,537 posts messages from various social media platforms in 2019. These contained information that was considered inflammatory, including terror-related threats and fake news. This is more than double the 6,207 posts (including 1,515 terror-related posts) that were removed by SML in 2018.

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A senior police officer, who did not want to be named for this story, said vigilance had to be increased in 2019 since the year had significant events, including the Lok Sabha as well as multiple state elections, the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute, the political tussle for the position of Maharashtra chief minister, and the abrogation of Article 370.

Posting trouble

“As an effective, preventive practice, we try to keep tabs on the maximum possible suspicious activities on the internet to maintain peace. Even a small message or photo or video with a false narrative can snowball into a big one and trigger violence. Hence, it is very important for citizens to understand how miscreants misuse the social media. People should first check the credibility of the content before sharing it on social media,” said Vinoy Kumar Choubey, joint commissioner of police (law and order).

SML scans platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, You Tube, Telegrams etc using advanced tools. Once objectionable content is detected, it is immediately blocked or removed with the help of service providers and the relevant platform. The senior officer said SML analysed posts to identify those attempting hateful propaganda. “Last year while dealing with such miscreants, who intentionally circulated objectionable posts, three people came under the scanner. They were dealt with strictly and booked,” said the officer.

Targeting terror and controversial issues

Compared to 2018, when 1,515 posts were taken down by SML for being directly or indirectly related to terror, 1,315 posts were pulled down for security reasons in 2019 for objectionable content that included promoting the terror group ISIS; posting photos and videos of atrocities on particular communities; and manuals for making bombs and organising suicide attacks.

“Apart from SML, the state’s anti-terrorism squad and intelligence department also independently look for such terror-related content online and remove them from the internet,” said the police officer.

The remaining 11,222 posts that were taken down by Mumbai Police contained comments deemed inflammatory or derogatory towards certain communities. The police officer said comments intended to influence opinions on issues like the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena’s falling out after the Assembly elections in the state and the attacks on universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, were also taken down.

Modus operandi

Once “problematic” content is identified by the SML team, the post is sent to an additional commissioner (ACP) or deputy commissioner (DCP) of police rank official of Mumbai Police’s special branch. If the official finds it fit for further action (while keeping in mind freedom of speech as well as artistic or creative liberty), the post is sent to the cyber police station, which contacts the concerned service provider and requests the content be removed under section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (production of any document or other thing is necessary or desirable for the purposes of any investigation).

“In cases related to terrorism or other emergencies, they usually accept our request. They also follow a verification process before taking down the content,” a DCP-ranked officer who once headed the cyber police division told HT.

A Google spokesperson said its community guidelines strictly prohibit content containing pornography, harassment and hate speech among other kinds of violations. “In addition, users can flag content they feel is inappropriate and once it is flagged, it is reviewed by our staff and removed from the system if it violates our policies. We also act promptly to remove an offending video if a court order requires it as per local laws,” said the spokesperson. Emails to Facebook and Twitter went unanswered.

The importance of vigilance

Former commissioner of police D Sivanandhan said vigilance by Mumbai Police was essential and that dedicated unit to gather intelligence on the internet was a must. Citing the example of Hong Kong Protests, he said “It is very important for the police department and government agencies to understand the youth today is making good use of technology (internet platforms) for mass protest and agitation. Law enforcers can impose section 144 and at the most, turn off internet in the region to keep the troublemakers at bay. But youngsters are smart and know mobile applications that bypass the bans. Hence, to maintain law and order, police’s vigilance of the internet world to know the pulse of the people is very important.”

Former justice Abhay Thipsay said that it was important to ensure such preventive actions be done “within the limit of certain lawful powers” granted to the police. “The question is, who will decide what is ‘objectionable’ and what is not? It’s a matter of interpretation. In the past, we have seen instances where freedom of speech has been infringed upon by police’s action,” he said. Thipsay also suggested a committee oversee such actions. “Just to ensure that the process of removing certain objectionable posts from internet by the police always remains a transparent process, there should be some judicial intervention in the process or a formation of committee which can look after the lawful removal of such posts in future,” said Thipsay.