Datanomics: Social media platforms acting tougher on suicide content

In a recent Madhya Pradesh incident, Additional District and Sessions Judge Tabassum Khan faced severe online abuse after she sentenced 14 individuals to life imprisonment in a 2022 mob-lynching case. This incident highlights the persistent threat of cyberbullying. Yet, despite a peak of 356 million in 2023, registered content violations where social media platforms took action have steadily decreased over recent years, falling to 237 million in 2024 and further to 160 million in 2025. In the face of this decline, the distribution of violations has shifted dramatically. Instagram’s share of total actioned violations surged from 15 per cent in 2022 to 55 per cent in 2025, while Facebook’s share fell from 84 per cent to 43 per cent. This shift aligns with changing demographics in India, where Instagram's user base grew from 16 per cent to 28 per cent, and Snapchat's rose from 8 per cent to 14 per cent between 2022 and 2025, compared to Facebook’s slower user base increase from 23 per cent to 26 per cent. By category, actioned violations for suicide and self-harm topped the list, rising from 5 per cent in 2022 to 21 per cent in 2025, while adult content and nudity actions rose from 10 per cent to 16 per cent. Despite prominent incidents like the abuse targeted at Judge Khan, cases of bullying and harassment actually fell from 2 per cent to 1 per cent over the same period.