Why in News? X recently announced that it withheld four posts by various political parties until Lok Sabha elections on the orders of Election Commission of India (ECI) as it had agreed to ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ for Social Media Platforms (SMP).

Rules for Post Removal-EC cited provisions of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) against criticism of political parties and private lives of candidates based on unverified allegations and its March 1 advisory that warned political parties to follow MCC during campaigning period.

Emergence of Voluntary Ethics Code-As political parties increasingly took to social media, EC, in 2019, set up a committee under Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha for this purpose, which suggested changes to the Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951 (deals with conduct of Lok Sabha and state assembly elections) to cover social media posts in the 48-hour period before polling, when conventional campaigning is banned. Therefore, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and SMPs presented a “Voluntary Code of Ethics for General Election 2019” which was adopted immediately and extended to all future elections.

About the Code- It directs social media platforms to-

• Voluntarily undertake information, education and communication campaigns to spread awareness about elections and electoral laws;
• Create a high-priority dedicated grievance redressal channel for acting on cases reported by EC;
• Acknowledge and process valid legal orders by EC within three hours for violations reported under section 126 of RPA, 1951 (curbs campaigning in the 48 hours preceding polling) and expeditiously upon other valid legal requests.

X’s Reaction-It disagreed with takedown requests stating that freedom of expression should extend to these posts and political speech .It therefore made emails by EC public requesting EC to publish all future takedown orders.