Social Media Firms to Share SOPs on Info Requests

By Pune Media On Oct 3, 2024 30

We missed this earlier: The Delhi High Court has instructed Google, Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Telegram to submit their standard operating procedures (SOP) for dealing with information requests to the police in an order on September 20. This comes as a part of an investigation into a missing child in the National Capital Territory (NCT). According to the police investigation, the child had an Instagram account under the user ID – shabanashabana8032.

To follow up on the activities of this account, the police asked Meta to submit the phone number, location/IP address, and IMEI number for the device the child used for operating this account on September 4. However, by September 19, the police did not receive any response from Meta in this regard, and as such, the court instructed Meta’s lawyers to assist the court in obtaining said information. The lawyers informed the court that Meta uploaded the information sought by police officials on the platform that law enforcement agencies use to communicate with Meta. They also added that usually, Meta usually conducts training programs with law enforcement agencies to explain how their portal functions.

Why did the court ask the social media platforms for their SOPs?

The court took note of some of the petitions it received and found that there was a lag between when the police sought information and when the platforms received such requests. This is despite the fact that the court has asked platforms to expedite this process time and time again.

“In order to ensure that such delay and lag does not impede the process of tracing out missing persons who are sometimes even children and minors, it is necessary that proper timelines ought to be adhered to by the concerned online platforms and their concerned officials,” the court stated. It mentioned that social media platforms must properly acclimatise police personnel to the process of posting information requests, how they should monitor the platform for their requests, and how to download the information platforms give them.