The Central government has informed the Delhi High Court that it was aware of the dangers of fake news on social media platforms, and accordingly necessary guidelines have been framed under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules.
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules provides a set of elaborate practices to be followed by the intermediaries — social media platforms — to redress complaints of users.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in an affidavit filed before the court, stated that any unlawful content on social media platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter, can be removed either by an order of the court, or a government notification or by the company’s grievance officers.
The grievance officer under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules is bound to redress any complaint relating to unlawful content within one month.
‘No clear mechanism’
The Ministry’s submission came in response to a petition filed by former RSS ideologue K.N. Govindacharya seeking removal of fake news and hate speech being circulated on social media and online platforms.
Mr. Govindacharya, in his petition filed through advocate Virag Gupta, has alleged that social media platforms “have become a haven for hate speech” and in the absence of details of designated officers, there is “no clear mechanism to enforce justice”.
“Social media platform cannot become a tool for rioting, even as they claim freedom of speech and expression,” the petition contended. It has further alleged that such platforms “have been misusing the idea of free speech and have not been complying with Indian laws”.
“Despite many steps taken by the police, growing trend of hate speech on social media, has increased burden of courts. In absence of any action, hate speech continues to grow on social media,” the plea said.