KOCHI: As trolling becomes the norm on Facebook, Kerala Police officers are facing an uphill task in convincing the social network’s authorities in the US about the abusive nature of the posts that are mostly in Malayalam and English.
“Many words that Malayalees use in English to abuse people on social media are not offensive as per US laws. Whenever we raise a complaint about the post, they used to say that it’s not offensive. Even translating Malayalam posts to convince Facebook is a cumbersome process,” lamented Hitech Crime Cell Circle Inspector Starmon.
As a majority of the abusive posts in Malayalam are by users residing in Gulf and foreign countries, Facebook authorities usually refuse to share their IP address and profile details saying only the details of users in India can be shared.
“To get the details of Malayalee Facebook users from other countries, a lot of paperwork is required and it takes a minimum of six-seven months,” said another officer.
Even Facebook has implemented more profile data protection features in recent times. “We are using various data analysis tools to get the profile details of the suspects. But it consumes a lot of time,” said Starmon.