New Delhi: In a move to strengthen the legal framework to make the social media platforms accountable under the law, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has prepared the draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2018 to replace the rules notified in 2011. The guidelines, which are currently under consultation from different stakeholders, has also been put for public consultation till 15 January, a statement from MeitY said on Monday.
The draft rules puts onus on “due diligence” process which needs to be followed by social network platforms to ensure that their platforms are not misused to spread fake news leading to violence in the country.
“These social network platforms, though, are required to follow due diligence as provided in section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Rules notified therein, subject to the import of Article 19(2) of the Constitution and ensure that their platforms are not used to commit and provoke terrorism, extremism, violence and crime,” the statement said.
The move by the government comes after a spate of murders in the country over the last few months, all connected to fake messages on social media, which have mainly spread through Facebook Inc.-owned messaging service WhatsApp. Such incidents have been reported from several states such as Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tripura and West Bengal.
“The instances of misuse of social media by criminals and anti-national elements have brought new challenges to the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA),”said the statement.
These include inducement for recruitment of terrorists, circulation of obscene content, spread of disharmony, incitement of violence, public order, fake news etc.
“Presently, consultation process is underway. The consultation process was initiated with inter-ministerial consultations and thereafter with other stakeholders, including major social media platforms/messaging services platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, WhatsApp and other associations like IAMAI, COAI and ISPAI representing intermediaries. The government intends to consult all stakeholders in the process,” the statement added.
According to a report by the Indian Express, the draft rules require the end-to-end encryption to be broken so that the origin of the messages can be traced.
This is crucial as the Indian government and the social media platforms are trying to reach common ground over the mechanism to ensure traceability of fake messages. Earlier, WhatsApp had said that it was not possible to trace the origin of a message on its platform, given its privacy settings; the government appeared unwilling to give in and, instead, sought “technical innovation” from the company to address the issue.
In the draft of The Information Technology [Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018, Rule 3(9) requires “intermediaries”, or online platforms, to “deploy technology based automated tools or appropriate mechanisms, with appropriate controls, for proactively identifying or removing or disabling access to unlawful information or content”, the Indian Express report said.
The insertion of a new Rule 3(4) activates a pro-active monthly notification across intermediaries to warn users repeatedly. Rule 3(5), which will introduce a “traceability requirement”, will in effect require a platform to break end-to-end encryption and introduce systems for retaining data and information specific to each bit of data, including WhatsApp messages, the report added.
“Government is committed to freedom of speech and expression and privacy of its citizens as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Government does not regulate content appearing on social network platform,” said the statement from MeitY. However, social media platforms have to be accountable under the law to prevent its misuse and spread of fake news, it said.