Nirbhay Kumar
New Delhi: Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram will have to reveal first originator of an objectionable message to the enforcement agencies as government seeks to make tech firms accountable to misuse and abuse of their platforms.
In a move that is being seen as government tightening the grip on social media companies, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 requires significant social media intermediaries to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer in India to ensure conformity with the new provisions.
For regulation purpose, the Rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries. The distinction is based on the number of users on the social media platforms.
“To encourage innovations and enable growth of new social media intermediaries without subjecting smaller platforms to significant compliance requirement, the Rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries,” said a press release issued by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
The government may notify the threshold of user base that will distinguish between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries. The Rules require the significant social media intermediaries to follow certain additional due diligence.
The significant social media intermediaries will also have to name a resident nodal officer for 24×7 co-ordination with enforcement agencies. The provisions notified on Thursday by the central government mandates them to publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on them.
“Social media platforms (are) welcome to do business in India but they need to follow the Constitution and laws of India,” said the government statement.
The government said that the new Rules empower ordinary users of social media, embodying a mechanism for redressal and timely resolution of their grievance
“Rules about digital media and OTT focuses more on in-house and self-regulation mechanism whereby a robust grievance redressal mechanism has been provided while upholding journalistic and creative freedom. The proposed framework is progressive, liberal and contemporaneous,” it said.
Acknowledging that proliferation of social media has empowered the citizens, it noted that the new age media have at the same time given rise to some serious concerns and consequences which have grown manifold in recent years.
Social media has fast penetrated into people’s lives. The reach of various digital platforms and mobile-based Apps has grown exponentially. As per industry estimate, the user base of WhatsApp and You Tube in India is 53 crore and 44.8 crore, respectively. There are 41 crore Facebook users in the country. The number of Instagram users has touched 21 crore.
As many as 1.75 crore people are estimated to be on micro-blogging site Twitter.
“These concerns have been raised from time to time in various forums including in the Parliament and its committees, judicial orders and in civil society deliberations in different parts of country. Such concerns are also raised all over the world and it is becoming an international issue,” stated the official release.
Furthermore, persistent spread of fake news has compelled many media platforms to create fact-check mechanisms. Rampant abuse of social media to share morphed images of women and contents related to revenge porn have often threatened the dignity of women, it added.
“Over the years, the increasing instances of misuse of social media by criminals, anti-national elements have brought new challenges for law enforcement agencies. These include inducement for recruitment of terrorists, circulation of obscene content, spread of disharmony, financial frauds, incitement of violence, public order etc,” the press note said.
Besides social media, the new regulations cover over-the-top (OTT) platforms also such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+Hotstar. Once the new rules kick in, the OTT platforms would need to self-classify movies, documentaries or web series into five age-based categories.
“The OTT platforms, called as the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age based categories- U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult). Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as A,” said the press note on the new rules.