Over 80 percent citizens urge strict action against online abuse: Survey

In the wake of the recent string of trolls that have surfaced, citizen engagement platform LocalCircles conducted a survey on making social media more responsible in India

The discussion was initiated after many issues were raised by citizens all across India on the subject of hate, abuse, troll and harassment prevalent on social media, and an urgent need to do something about it. Trolling has become a major issue and a cause of concern on social media platforms in India.

Over 14,000 participants took part in the poll. When asked if companies like Twitter and Facebook should be responsible for taking action against accounts that are engaged in trolling, abuse and harassment, 78 percent citizens agreed with it while 17% said it should not be done.

Recently, a regulation was signed upon in the European Union by major social media companies, which require them to proactively monitor social media and remove any hate or offensive content within 24 hours of posting.

In a related poll in which more than 14,000 citizens voted, 89 percent citizens said that there was definitely a need for a similar regulation in India to make social media a safer and more responsible space.

Citizens also made several recommendations to prevent unhealthy trolling on social media in India like algorithms being implemented to constantly moderate the user content, members being warned for hate/offensive comments leading to account suspension of repeat offenders and anything spreading against the nation to be caught and reported immediately.