The Information Technology (Intermediary
Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, were passed on February
25, 2021, by the Central Government, imposing certain requirements on internet
intermediaries, particularly social media platforms.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology had set a May 25 deadline for the organizations to accept the rules.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are some internet intermediaries.
All prominent social media networks with
more than 50 lakh (5 million) members are classified as huge social media
platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Koo.
According to data from January of this
year, Facebook has 320 million users in India, Twitter has more than 17.5
million users, Whatapp has more than 390 million users, and Koo, an Indian
social networking site, has more than 60 lakh users.
According to reports, social media
platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have failed to comply with
the 2021 Rules. This has caused concern among users of such websites that they
may be forced to shut down or be blacklisted in India as a result of their
non-compliance. On May 24 hashtags were trending that these platforms will be
banned in India from May 26.
But Noncompliance did not result in a
"shutdown" of social media platforms, but rather in the loss of
status as an "intermediary.
" The intermediate status provides a
"safe harbour" for social media and messaging platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, allowing them to avoid liability for
information that their users publish or send on the network as long as they
meet certain criteria.
What Comes Under New It Rules, 2021?
New IT rules require social media platform
to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact Person for 24x7
coordination with law enforcement agencies, and a Resident Grievance Officer
who shall perform the functions mentioned under Grievance Redressal Mechanism.
Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter must
designate a number of senior individuals to be in charge of responding to
government take down orders and other directives, the take down process must be completed
within 36 hours.
Locating the Source of Information
Intermediary such as WhatsApp or Signal
need to enable the identification of the “first originator” of a message.
Traceability proponents argue that it is the only method to locate potentially
deadly "fake news" and track down the source of illegal information
such as child pornography.
Section 79 notably exempts digital media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WhatsApp from liability for
posts made on their networks, as well as third-party data and information. If
noncompliance becomes a problem, that legal immunity will be revoked.
When an intermediary violates these
regulations, the Act's sub-section (1) under section 79 does not apply, and the
intermediary is subject to penalties under any legislation in effect at the
time, including the Act and the Indian Penal Code.
Social Media Platforms Concern Over
New It Rules
Twitter was one of the social media
networks that didn't make it through the compliance process. It said new social
media laws were seen as a "possible danger to freedom of expression.
"Twitter also added it’s concerned by
the recent incidents regarding its employees in the country. The Indian
government has slammed Twitter's response, calling it unjustified, dishonest, and
an attempt to discredit the country.
Various difficulties with the guidelines
have been raised, including restrictions on free expression, requirements for
automatic material identification and removal. Twitter is not the only platform
to the show concern, Facebook, Whatsapp, decided to sue the Indian Government.
Whatsapp is taking the government to the
court over new IT Rules 2021. Under the new guidelines messaging platforms
would need to provide provisions for the identification of the first originator
of the information. So Whatsapp is pleading before the court that following the
guidelines will lead to completely break in end to end encryption and this
would undermine the people’s right to privacy.
Reasonable and proportional rules are
necessary in an increasingly digital society, but destroying everyone's
privacy, abusing human rights, and placing innocent people in danger is not the
answer. WhatsApp's End to End encryption is enabled by default for all
messages.
Furthermore, WhatsApp would have to
re-engineer the programme specifically for India, which it will not do. If
WhatsApp were required to follow the laws, it would have to develop a version
of the programme that supports traceability but does not use End 2 End
encryption.
Affects of New Rules on People?
With the implementation of new IT Rules
that impose stricter requirements on intermediaries for proactive content
monitoring, users will be held liable for what they post, as the majority of
published content does not come directly from the creators. As a result of this
Citizens' freedom of speech and privacy will be restricted in an
unconstitutional manner.
The introduction of automated tools to
filter out objectionable contents will lead discrimination in accuracies and
lack of accountability and transparency. Bringing OTT streaming platforms under
government scrutiny will have a direct influence on the quality of the content
we consume.
Written by – Kriti Verma
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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