Friends, New Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 has been released recently by the Government of India.
Let us understand them in detail.
Mainly these rules have been released focusing on Social Media, OTT Platforms and Online News Portals.
In Sec 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act 2000, the Central Government has the power that it can make rules and regulations for proper implementation of this Act, These rules have been issued using the same power.
The new rules will replace Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) rules that came into existence from 2011.
The Supreme Court (SC) had observed that the Government of India may frame necessary guidelines to eliminate child pornography, rape and gang rape imageries, videos and sites in content hosting platforms and other applications.
Social Media
According to the number of users, social media is divided into two categories. – Social media Intermediaries and Significant Social Media Intermediaries.
If Social Media Intermediary does not follow Due Diligence, it will not be given the benefit of Safe Harbor Provision. According to Safe Harbor Provision, social media intermediary gets protection from legal prosecution for posted content.
The Intermediary must appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer. This Redressal Officer will be based in India itself and its name, number, address will have to be prominently displayed on the website. Whoever Grievance Redressal Officer receives complaints will acknowledge them in 24 hrs and will dispose in 15 days.
If the Intermediary receives a complaint about a content that it violates someone’s privacy, one sees it in shows him in full or partial nudity, in sexual act or morphed images, then it will have to be removed in 24 hrs. Such a complaint can be made by any affected individual or anyone else on his behalf.
Significant Social Media Intermediaries will have to appoint, the Grievance Officer, the Chief Compliance Officer, and a Nodal Contact Person who will be all based in India. They are required to redress grievances within 15 days.
Significant Social Media Intermediaries will have to present a monthly report of when and what action was taken on the complaints received by the, to the government.
If any content is considered anti-national by government agencies, then Significant Social Media Intermediaries will have to identify its First Originator.
If a court or government agency considers a content unlawful on the basis of other laws and passes an order to remove it, then the Significant Social Media Intermediaries will have to remove such content in 24 hrs.
OTT Platform
In these rules, the OTT Platform is called Publisher of Online Curated Content.
Content has to be self-classify into age-based 5 categories. Universal (U), (U / A) 7+ years, (U / A) 13+ years, (U / A) 16+ years and Adult (A)
There should be a system of applying parental lock to content classified (U / A) 13+ years and above.
There should be a mechanism for age verification for adult (A) content.
At the beginning of every program, a description of the content will have to be given so that the user can take an informed decision before viewing the program whether he should see the program or not.
Digital News Portals
Digital News Portals will have to follow the Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Program Code norms of the Cable TV Network Regulation Act to bring offline media (print, TV) and digital media to an equal level from the aspect of reliability.
Three Tier Grievance Redressal Mechanism is designed in which
At Level 1, the publisher must appoint one Grievance Redressal Officer. This Redressal Officer will be based in India itself and its name, number, address will be prominently displayed on website. Any complaints which will be receive will be acknowledged in 24 hrs and will be disposed of in 15 days.
At Level 2, there should be a formation of Self-Regulatory Bodies of publishers to check that the work is being done according to the Code of Ethics. These Self-Regulatory Bodies will first register themselves with Information & Broadcasting Ministry. These Self-Regulatory Bodies will take action on the complaints which the publisher will not be able to dispose in 15 days.
At Level 3, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will create an oversight mechanism in which guidelines and codes for practice will be created for Self-Regulatory Bodies.
Thank You
