The Central government in February, announced the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, commonly termed as the new IT Rules 2021. For the past few days, this set of rules has created chaos on social media and has also raised questions, whether social media will be banned in India. That is why we are here to explain you what are these new rules and how will it affect you.
Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and OTT platforms like Netflix, Zee5, etc. need to follow these set of rules. These rules will also apply to online news platforms.
General rules
- The social media, OTT and online news platforms are required to set up a three-tier redressal mechanism to address and resolve grievances of the users.
- They are required to appoint an India-based Grievance Officer who must register complaints within 24 hrs and dispose it off within 15 days.
- They also need to appoint an India-based nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with the administration.
- They will publish regular compliance report every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon.
- These platforms are required to have a physical contact address in India and it must be published on their app/website.
- Social media companies will have to take down posts depicting nudity or morphed photos within 24 hours of receiving a complaint.
Three-tier redressal mechanism
- Level 1: The social media, OTT and online news platforms are required to have a grievance redressal mechanism under which they have to appoint an India-based Grievance Officer for registering the grievance within 24 hrs and resolving it within 15 days. This is self-regulation by the publisher. The contact details of the Grievance Officer should be published on the website or app of the publisher. He will be the person for interactions with the complainant, self-regulatory body and the ministry.
- Level 2: The publishers need to create one or more independent self-regulatory bodies. A publisher needs to be a member of an independent self-regulatory body headed by a retired SC or HC judge or an independent eminent person from fields like media, broadcasting, entertainment, child rights, human rights, etc. These bodies will be registered under the ministry. The bodies will oversee and ensure adherence to the code of ethics, resolve grievances that the publishers could not, isuue warnings, etc.
- Level 3: The Central government will create an inter-departmental committee for oversight mechanism which will resolve matters that neither the publisher nor the self-regulatory body could. They will look into matters where the publishers and the self-regulatory bodies fail to comply the code. They will also publish a charter for self-regulatory bodies and publishers. They can take down content that somebody is complaining about or shut down a website altogether for some time.
Tracking down 'First originator'
- Social media platforms, including messaging apps like Whatsapp, are required to track down messages and identify the first originator, i.e., the user who had first started the message or post.
- The government says that they will ask for such data only in case of a serious threat to the nation, or public order, or incitement of offence, or rape, sexually explicit material, child sexual abuse material, etc.
- The government says that the social media platforms are not required to disclose the content of the message or any other information about their users.
- If the first originator of a message is someone residing outside India, then the first originator within India will be held accountable.
- OTT platforms will have to classify their contents into five categories —
- U (universal) content for all age groups.
- U/A 7+ content for above 7 years of age. Anybody below this age can access the content with parental guidance.
- U/A 13+ content for above 13 years of age. Anybody below this age can access the content with parental guidance.
- U/A 16+ content for above 16 years of age. Anybody below this age can access the content with parental guidance.
- A (adult) content only for above 18 years of age.
- Content classified as U/A 13+ or higher must have parental lock system.
- Reliable age-verification mechanism should be there for content rated 'A'.
- The contents can be classified on the basis of theme, message, violence, nudity, sex, language, drug abuse, horror, etc.
- These ratings should be specific to each content and all of them should have a content description and disclaimer.
- While publicising the content on social media, hoardings, etc., the ratings should be mentioned.
- The OTT platforms should try to make their content more accessible to differently-abled people.
Rules for online news platforms
- All online news and current affairs publishers operating and having a physical presence within India, must register themselves with the MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology).
- Social media platforms will verify the accounts/pages/channels of those news publishers who are registered with the ministry.
- Even the newspapers and TV news channels who have a website/app/social media accounts are required to abide to these rules.
- They too have to follow the three-tier grievance redressal system.
Code of ethics
- The code of ethics will be applicable to online video content platforms and online news platforms.
- The online video content platforms must be cautious and self-regulate themselves on matters including:
- Content affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India;
- Content threatening the security of India;
- Content affecting the friendly relations of India with foreign countries;
- India's multi-racial, multi-religious context;
- Content prohibited under law or by the judiciary.
- News and current affairs platforms must abide to:
- Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India under the Press Council Act, 1978;
- Programme Code under section 5 of the Cable Television Networks Regulation) Act, 1995;
- Content which is prohibited under any law for the time being in force shall not be published or transmitted.
Impact of these rules on you
- First of all, if you are a mischievous person who spreads unlawful content or fake news online, or harasses people in DMs, then you must immediately stop it because now the administration has a way to reach out to you.
- Don't ever forward or share a fake news. If you do so and you are the first originator within India, then you will be held accountable. Everytime you get a news on Whatsapp, etc., do cross-check its facts from a reliable source before sharing it with others.
- You might not be able to access age-restricted content on OTT platforms due to content classification and age-verification system.
- If you feel that a content on social media, OTT platforms or online news is objectionable, then you can register your grievance with the platform. If you're not satisfied with its actions, you can seek to the self-regulatory bodies and if still not satisfied, you can urge the MeitY to take resolve the matter.
- Keeping in mind its controversial past, the government may flag a content as disturbing or even shut down a social media handle/website/app, which it feels is criticising the government.
- If messaging apps like Whatsapp and Telegram agree to abide rules, they might be forced to break their end-to-end encryption in India in order to comply with 'tracking the first originator' rule. So be ready for unencrypted chatting.
- With the help of these rules, it is very likely that the government will clamp down on free speech and unbiased media. So be ready for getting censored news.
Discussing about the new IT rules, an editorial in The Hindu was titled "A wolf in watchdog’s clothing: On government’s move to regulate digital media".
"This is a government takeover of journalism and free speech in India," said ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta. However, Gupta agreed with the need to regularise the media industry. "All digital media platforms now have to register with the government which is a very good idea because anybody can set up a website nowadays and claim to be a news media organisation," Gupta added.
Talking about the three-tier redressal system, many organisations claim that they already self-regulate. They say that the second tier is an unnecessary complication. About the third tier, they say that government presence could have a chilling effect on free speech and conversation. Talking about the government's power in the third tier to take down a content or shut down a website altogether for some time, they say is a very strong and arbitrary power which may definately be misused.
"What kind of autonomy… or impartiality do you expect from them?" said Shekhar Gupta, adding that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry didn’t have the power to "shut down any publication at a whim" even during Emergency.
Human Rights Watch has pointed out that the new rules make it mandatory all platforms to disclose to the government the original source of any message or post. If this happens, then messaging apps like Whatsapp may not be able to continue with their end-to-end encryption in India. And this will be a major privacy threat to the users.
The rating system of the OTT platforms is not disputed. The OTT platforms have agreed to abide by these rules. But some users say that it is constraining their choice of content. They think that this will also turn OTT platforms into 'TV-like content'.
Several news media organisations say that the purview of the Information Technology Act, 2000 does not extend to news media, and so the guidelines do not have the legislative backing to regulate news media. Thus, these Rules are exercising powers far beyond the parent legislation.
The other grave concern about these rules are that many media organisations like The Hindu and Caravan magazine physically publish their newspapers and magazines, and due to the vague definition of 'publisher of news and current affairs content', these organisations too have to abide by these rules. The print media and digital media already follow the Press Council of India Act and the Cable Television Network Act. These organisations also run their websites, apps and social media handles, so they need to follow these rules too.
Asking how these rules would apply to a print newspaper with an online edition, Shekhar Gupta asked, "So if a story is published, say, in a print publication, if that appears also on their online edition, then which compliance mechanism will work with them — the Press Council of India or this new oversight mechanism?"
Several social media platforms like Koo, Telegram, LinkedIn, Google, Facebook have agreed to the rules. Various entities have asked for a one-year compliance time due to the pandemic.
Whatsapp does not agrees to the clause asking social media platforms to track down the 'first originator'. It says that this will be a threat to user privacy and free speech. It has already sued the Indian government in Delhi High Court over these rules.
Twitter seeks ammendments in these rules. It plans to talk to the Union government for amending certain clauses of these regulations which restrict a free conversation on the platform.
Several online news websites have objected to these rules. Newspapers and TV news channels who have an online presence are asking the government to keep them out of these rules as they are already abiding by the Press Council Act and the Cable Television Network Act.
The Central Government on the other hand, is saying that these rules will empower the users and will help the administration to find out who started the message that led to commissioning of specific crimes. The government said that they respect the users' right to privacy and have no intention to violate it.
The government also said that it welcomes criticism and the right to ask questions. But having a look at their previous records, it doesn't feel like that it does. The government's controversial past shows that how it has tried to silence the ones criticising its actions. For instance, suspending twitter accounts, shutting down websites, raiding offices, etc.
In short, be ready to live in a censored internet world because of the Indian Government's Chinese model of online surveillance and censorship.
Want to read the new IT rules, click here
Source: theprint.in, news18.com, thewire.in, jagranjosh.com, mib.gov.in
Written by Siddhant Sharma
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