Social media platforms are now required with the new Intermediary Guidelines, and the future remains uncertain for companies that are yet to comply with the Indian government's norms.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had given a three-month deadline to the organisations to accept the guidelines by May 25. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules), 2021 was notified on February 25.
The social media platforms risk losing their status risk losing their status and protections as intermediaries, if they fail to comply with the guidelines.
Opposition Congress has attacked the ruling NDA government by calling it a reflection of the Modi government’s obsession with dictatorship and suppressing dissent. Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi even compared the new rules with that of North Korea.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, "The issuance of the new intermediary guidelines is a reflection of the Modi government’s obsession with dictatorship and suppressing dissent. The BJP government is suffering from Big Daddy syndrome which is a control freak syndrome. These guidelines are against India’s culture of discourse, deliberation, and dissent. The Modi government is strangulating our culture.”
Meanwhile, experts opine that while the impact of this is not immediate, the situation will play out in Indian courts till the time the government and tech companies come to a compromise.
Sanjay Hegde, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court, said, “Social media companies are intermediaries and should be protected. That should happen as long as they follow the law of the land and take down content when asked by law enforcement agencies.”
Explaining more, Hedge said, "Now the question is whose perception of the law is to prevail. The companies say they will take down the content when there is a court order. Also, they will block it in India but will keep it in the rest of the world. The government seems to think it can unilaterally order the companies and that should be sufficient."
Several social media users were worried about that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms might be banned in India starting from May 26, after media reports suggested that it was a possibility.
However, the apps and websites are still running and neither the companies nor the government have said the platforms will be blocked.
Major corporations such as Facebook, Google, Twitter have not yet complied with the guidelines.
Indian microblogging platform Koo has appointed Rahul Satyakam as the resident grievance officer, Moneycontrol reported on May 25.
"We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. Pursuant to the IT Rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies. Facebook remains committed to people's ability to freely and safely express themselves on our platform," a Facebook spokesperson said.
The new rules platforms to trace the "first originator" of a piece of content when demanded by law enforcement authorities. This means that messaging services such as Facebook-owned WhatsApp will have to break end-to-end encryption of messages.
"Requiring messaging apps to "trace" chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp, which would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people's right to privacy. We have consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposing requirements that would violate the privacy of our users," a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
Media report suggest that WhatsApp has challenged the rules in the Delhi High Court.
"In the meantime, we will also continue to engage with the Government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe, including responding to valid legal requests for the information available to us," the spokesperson added.
Here are some aspects of the new guidelines:
> Significant social media firms (the definition of significant will be clarified soon) have to appoint a chief compliance officer and have a nodal contact person who can be in touch with law enforcement agencies 24/7.
> Social media firms should not host or store, and must take down content prohibited in the context of India’s sovereignty, integrity, defamation and incitement to offence.
> If some content is deemed offensive by a court or government, social media firms have to pull it out within 36 hours; 24, if it is sexually offensive content.
(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.)