Government of India recently released guidelines for social media intermediaries, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter. With that, it also legislated for over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 will affect how big technology companies operate in India, along with their media content policies.
The most important points are: There will be an oversight committee with representatives from the defence, foreign and defense affairs, home, internal affairs, international and foreign trade, the law, the Information and Communications Technology sector, and the ministry of women and children development.Companies with social media platforms will have to appoint a grievance officer.
After receiving a complaint, an officer must acknowledge them within three days and resolve them for users within a month. Intermediaries are required to remove all non-consensual nude or semi-nude photos within 24 hours after the complaint has been filed.
There will be an oversight committee with representatives from the defence, foreign and defense affairs, home, internal affairs, international and foreign trade, the law, the Information and Communications Technology sector, and the ministry of women and children development.
- Larger social media companies, called significant social media intermediaries, will have to follow extra rules. ??
- Intermediaries must remove non-consensual nude or semi-nude photos within 24 hours after receiving a complaint. Despite the government's stated policy, intermediaries are being told they will not be required to divulge any content of a message, but how are social media companies to track a message they do not know the content of?
- India will have an oversight committee with representatives from the ministries of defence, external affairs, home, I&B, law, IT, and women and child development. In a multi-ethnic country like India, what’s offensive is highly subjective. When a platform decides to restrict access to someone’s account on its own, it needs to inform the user beforehand.
Moreover, the platform should provide an appeal mechanism for users with restrictions to appeal the action.Social media platforms should have a voluntary verification program, such as verification through a mobile number. ??
- Apart from a grievance officer, these firms will need to appoint a Nodal officer that could be contacted round the clock by law enforcement, and a compliance officer to address any issue related to these rules.
- Also, OTT platforms will have to introduce parental controls for anything rated above U/A 13+ to protect children from harmful content. In addition, the government wants to regulate digital news publishers.
- They propose a three-layered mechanism that will consist of a self-regulated code by publishers, a regulatory body of publishers, and an oversight mechanism. There are still some details to be worked out about these guidelines, and you can read them all here. A. .
- Social media intermediaries such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter were made subject to Indian government guidelines. Additionally, it also formulated guidelines for digital streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. This code, officially known as the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, will influence how large technology companies in India operate and their traffic policies.
- This section's main points are:Social media platformsAll social media companies must designate an employee grievance officer. Within three days, the officer must acknowledge a user complaint and resolve it within a month. After receiving a complaint, intermediates must take down naked or seminaked photos within 24 hours.
- There will be an oversight committee with representatives from the defence, foreign and defense affairs, home, internal affairs, international and foreign trade, the law, the Information and Communications Technology sector, and the ministry of women and children development. should have a voluntary verification program, such as verification through your mobile number. A summons power will be given to the commission in the case that social media companies do not follow the rules.
The government’s position is that intermediaries have a constitutional right not to disclose the contents of any message, but how does the government expect social media companies to track an unknown message?
During this period, companies may be obligated to remove any offensive or unlawful content within 36 hours based on a court order. The issue of what is offensive in a diverse country like India and how the platform will deal with it is highly subjective. If a platform wants to take access away from someone’s account, it needs to inform the user prior to taking action.
- During this period, companies may be obligated to remove any offensive or unlawful content within 36 hours based on a court order. such as Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, and Amazon Prime will need to form a self-regulation code to censor content.
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- OTT platforms will also have to introduce a parental lock to keep children away — for anything rated above U/A 13+ — from harmful content.
In addition to this, OTT platforms will be required to implement parental controls to keep children away from harmful content above U/A rated 13+. The government also wishes to incorporate digital news publishers under one regulatory framework. They proposed an umbrella that consists of three levels: a self-regulatory code for publishers, a self-regulatory body for publishers, and an oversight agency. It will probably take awhile to formulate the final details of the guidelines for news sites. You can read them here.
You can read all rules here.