ETtechThe Twitter Files saga in the US has reaffirmed India's policy-making in making social media platforms accountable for their role in political influencing, and how the unfettered power of internet platforms might lead to "abuse of power with no accountability," minister of state for electronics & technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted on Friday.
The Twitter Files are an Elon Musk-driven revelation, spotlighting the social media platform's role under its erstwhile management in moderating content on the platform, including blacklists that limit the reach of certain accounts.
In his tweet Chandrasekhar said the Twitter Files have shown that "it is very obvious that safe harbours for Internet Intermediaries must be conditional on them following [a] set of rules as #India has done."
In October this year, the IT Minister notified amendments to the Information Technology, Rules 2021. In short, the move raised compliance obligations on social media platforms like Twitter, referred to as "intermediaries."
Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), an NGO protecting "digital liberties" of users, said the amendment rules have made things "worse," as the newly envisioned grievance redressal committee might entail governmental adjudication on the platform's content moderation decisions.
Chandraskhar's tweet indicated that the safe-harbour provisions available for social media platforms such as Twitter should be "conditional" on their compliance with the local rules.
Safe harbours are legal provisions that allow for an entity to eliminate legal liability for violating rules, provided they meet certain conditions.
In its release late October, the Centre said the IT Rules amendments are aimed at raising due diligence requirements on the part of intermediaries: โThe intermediaries now will be expected to ensure that there is no uploading of content that intentionally communicates any misinformation or information that is patently false or untrue hence entrusting an important responsibility on intermediaries,โ the release said.
โThe amendments were notified after the Ministry followed an exhaustive public consultation process involving all stakeholders,โ it said.
More on the misuse n abuse by @Twitter of its power ๐๐ป๐คฌ#Accountability https://t.co/fn9Xe64rzc
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar ๐ฎ๐ณ (@Rajeev_GoI) 1670548417000The Twitter Files are an Elon Musk-driven revelation, spotlighting the social media platform's role under its erstwhile management in moderating content on the platform, including blacklists that limit the reach of certain accounts.
In his tweet Chandrasekhar said the Twitter Files have shown that "it is very obvious that safe harbours for Internet Intermediaries must be conditional on them following [a] set of rules as #India has done."
In October this year, the IT Minister notified amendments to the Information Technology, Rules 2021. In short, the move raised compliance obligations on social media platforms like Twitter, referred to as "intermediaries."
Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), an NGO protecting "digital liberties" of users, said the amendment rules have made things "worse," as the newly envisioned grievance redressal committee might entail governmental adjudication on the platform's content moderation decisions.
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This thread is abt power of Internet platforms n abuse of that power wth no accountability It is very obvious thโฆ https://t.co/S7HMSLcyEE
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar ๐ฎ๐ณ (@Rajeev_GoI) 1670155903000Chandraskhar's tweet indicated that the safe-harbour provisions available for social media platforms such as Twitter should be "conditional" on their compliance with the local rules.
Safe harbours are legal provisions that allow for an entity to eliminate legal liability for violating rules, provided they meet certain conditions.
In its release late October, the Centre said the IT Rules amendments are aimed at raising due diligence requirements on the part of intermediaries: โThe intermediaries now will be expected to ensure that there is no uploading of content that intentionally communicates any misinformation or information that is patently false or untrue hence entrusting an important responsibility on intermediaries,โ the release said.
โThe amendments were notified after the Ministry followed an exhaustive public consultation process involving all stakeholders,โ it said.
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