Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021
Note: You need not read line by line or remember everything, mostly useful for Mains in GS4 and GS2. More articles and debates will be coming in newspapers based on the same. Having an overall idea on what exactly the rules say will help you write better answers.
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1.1 Rules:
Amidst growing concerns around lack of transparency, accountability and rights of users related to digital media the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 has been framed in exercise of powers under section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in supersession of the earlier Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011.
Part- II of these Rules shall be administered by Ministry of Electronics and IT.
Part-III relating to Code of Ethics and procedure and safeguards in relation to digital media shall be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
1.2 Background:
The Digital India programme, extensive spread of mobile phones, Internet etc. has enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
Common people are also using these platforms in a very significant way.
The following numbers as user base of major social media platforms in India:
WhatsApp users: 53 Crore, YouTube users: 44.8 Crore, Facebook users: 41 Crore , Instagram users: 21 Crore, Twitter users: 1.75 Crore
These social platforms have enabled common Indians to show their creativity, ask questions, be informed and freely share their views, including criticism of the Government and its functionaries.
The Government acknowledges and respects the right of every Indian to criticize and disagree as an essential element of democracy.
India is the world’s largest open Internet society and the Government welcomes social media companies to operate in India, do business and also earn profits. However, they will have to be accountable to the Constitution and laws of India.
1.3 very disturbing developments
Are observed on the social media platforms. 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.
Misuse of social media for settling corporate rivalries in blatantly unethical manner has become a major concern for businesses.
Instances of use of abusive language, defamatory and obscene contents and blatant disrespect to religious sentiments through platforms are growing.
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.
1.4 Lack of grievance redressal mechanism
It was found that currently there is no robust complaint mechanism wherein the ordinary users of social media and OTT platforms can register their complaint and get it redressed within defined timeline.
Lack of transparency and absence of robust grievance redressal mechanism have left the users totally dependent on the whims and fancies of social media platforms.
Often it has been seen that a user who has spent his time, energy and money in developing a social media profile is left with no remedies in case that profile is restricted or removed by the platform without giving any opportunity to be heard.
1.5 Rationale and Justification for New Guidelines:
These Rules substantially empower the ordinary users of digital platforms to seek redressal for their grievances and command accountability in case of infringement of their rights. In this direction, the following developments are noteworthy:
The Supreme Court in suo-moto writ petition (Prajjawala case) had observed that the Government of India may frame necessary guidelines to eliminate child pornography, rape and gangrape imageries, videos and sites in content hosting platforms and other applications.
1.6 Salient Features
Guidelines Related to Social Media to Be Administered by Ministry of Electronics and IT:
Due Diligence to Be Followed By Intermediaries: including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
The safe harbour exempts intermediaries who host, store and disseminate data, from any form of liability unless they were aware of any illegal content being stored and transmitted on their platform, which was not acted upon under a reasonable span of time.
Read more at RGNUL Student Research Review (RSRR): rsrr.in/2020/10/21/safe-harbours-and-intermediary-liability/
Grievance Redressal Mechanism: to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims. Also appoint a Grievance Officer to deal with such complaints, Grievance Officer shall acknowledge the complaint within twenty-four hours and resolve it within fifteen days from its receipt.
EnsuringOnline Safety and Dignity of Users, Specially Women Users:
Intermediaries shall remove or disable access withing 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that exposes the private areas of individuals, show such individuals in full or partial nudity or in sexual act or is in the nature of impersonation including morphed images etc. Such a complaint can be filed either by the individual or by any other person on his/her behalf.
Two Categories of Social Media Intermediaries: Rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries. This distinction is based on the number of users on the social media platform.
Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary:
Note can skip this section
· Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact, Resident Grievance Officer.
· Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints
· Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information that is required only for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order or of incitement to an offence relating to the above or in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years.
· Significant social media intermediary shall have a physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile app or both.
· Voluntary User Verification Mechanism:Users who wish to verify their accounts voluntarily shall be provided an appropriate mechanism to verify their accounts and provided with demonstrable and visible mark of verification.
· Giving Users an Opportunity to Be Heard: In cases where significant social media intermediaries remove or disables access to any information on their own accord, then a prior intimation for the same shall be communicated to the user who has shared that information with a notice explaining the grounds and reasons for such action. Users must be provided an adequate and reasonable opportunity to dispute the action taken by the intermediary.
· Removal of Unlawful Information: An intermediary upon receiving actual knowledge in the form of an order by a court or being notified by the Appropriate Govt.or its agencies through authorized officer should not host or publish any information which is prohibited under any law in relation to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order, friendly relations with foreign countries etc.
Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms to Be Administered by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting:
There have been widespread concerns about issues relating to digital contents both on digital media and OTT platforms.
Civil Society, film makers, political leaders including Chief Minister, trade organizations and associations have all voiced their concerns and highlighted the imperative need for an appropriate institutional mechanism.
There were many court proceedings in the Supreme Court and High Courts, where courts also urged the Government to take suitable measures.
The Rules establish a soft-touch self-regulatory architecture and a Code of Ethics and three tier grievance redressal mechanism for news publishers and OTT Platforms and digital media.
These Rules empower the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to implement Part-III of the Rules which prescribe the following:
· Code of Ethics for online news, OTT platforms and digital media: This Code of Ethics prescribe the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.
· Self-Classification of Content: The OTT platforms, called as the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories-
o U (Universal),
o U/A 7+,
o U/A 13+,
o U/A 16+, and
o 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”.
· The publisher of online curated content shall prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme
Publishers of news on digital media
· would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act thereby providing a level playing field between the offline (Print, TV) and digital media.
· A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established under the rules with different levels of self-regulation.
· Level-I: Self-regulation by the publishers;
· Level-II: Self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the publishers;
· Level-III: Oversight mechanism.
· Self-regulation by the Publisher: Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer, take decision on every grievance received by it within 15 days.
· Self-Regulatory Body: There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members. Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.
· Oversight Mechanism: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
· It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices. It shall establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.
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Source PIB: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1700749 Document is abridged summary of this article .