Social media globally, and in India, is widely afflicted by two main problems: hate speech and false news. The reason this is a pressing problem is because eventually both these elements end up hurting democracy. At Esya Centre we have taken an in-depth look at the social media ecosystem in India to identify the problems and come up with potential solutions. While India has multiple bills in the works that aim at tackling some of these issues, the ambit of those bills is very broad and encompasses multiple themes. We’ve kept our paper focused on social media and how to moderate user-generated content.
For this paper, which is not sponsored by any social media company, we spoke with a range of companies, lawyers, researchers, and academicians in the ecosystem. We also studied developments in the U.S. and Europe and adapted from there suggestions that we think will help improve the ecosystem in India without killing business. However, this research does not reflect anyone else’s opinions.
Attribution: Megha Bahree, “Moderating Social Media in India: User-Generated Content in an Era of Viral False News, Disinformation and Hate Speech,” Issue No. 006, January 2021, Esya Centre