In News:

• Twitter has indicated to the government that it is willing to comply with Indian IT laws.

What’s in Today’s Article:

• New IT Rules 2021 – About, Key highlights
• News Summary

New IT Rules

• India’s new IT rules, also known as The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, came into force in May 2021.
• It seeks to regulate social media platforms, OTT players & digital media.

Key highlights of the rule:

• Removal of content from social media
  • The new guidelines will make it mandatory for platforms such as WhatsApp to aid in identifying the “originator” of “unlawful” messages.
  • It stipulates that upon receipt of information about the platform hosting prohibited content from a court or the appropriate government agency, it should remove the said content within 36 hours.
• Categorisation of social media
  • The rules also made a distinction between a significant social media intermediary and a regular social media intermediary.
• Related to Safe Harbour Mechanism
  • Section 79 of the Information Technology Act provides a “safe harbour” to intermediaries that host user-generated content.
    • Section 79 says that any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted on its platform.
    • In other words, as long as a platform acts just as the messenger, it will be safe from any legal prosecution brought upon due to the message being transmitted.
  • As a result, these platforms are exempted from liability for the actions of users if they adhere to government-prescribed guidelines.
  • The new guidelines prescribe an element of due diligence to be followed by the intermediary, failing which the safe harbour provisions would cease to apply to these platforms.
• A Grievance Redressal Mechanism
  • The guidelines mandates that the social media platforms should establish a mechanism for receiving and resolving complaints from users.
  • These platforms will need to appoint a grievance officer to deal with such complaints.
• Ensuring Compliance
  • The social media platforms will be required to appoint a chief compliance officer resident in India, responsible for ensuring compliance with the rules.
  • These platforms will also be required to appoint a nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies.
  • The platforms will need to publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints etc.
• Penalties
  • In case an intermediary fails to observe the rules, it would lose the safe harbour.
  • It will be liable for punishment under any law for the time being in force including the provisions of the IT Act and the Indian Penal Code.
• Rules for OTT (Over-the-Top) Services
  • The new IT Rules has called for a grievance redressal system for OTT platforms.
    • OTT services refer to any type of video or streaming media that provides a viewer access to movies or TV shows by sending the media directly through the internet.
    • Some of the most popular OTT providers include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu.
  • The government is also asking OTT platforms to self-regulate.
  • While films have a censor board, OTT platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, etc. will require to self-classify their movies and content based on age.
  • For this, the government has prescribed self-classification of content into five categories based on age suitability.
    • These categories include U, “U/A 7+”, “U/A 13+”, “U/A 16+” and “A”.
• Rules for Digital News Portals
  • The rule promotes self-regulation for these portals.
  • It also wants a three-level grievance redressal mechanism.
    • This will include self-regulation by the publishers; self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the publishers and oversight mechanism.

News Summary

• American micro-blogging giant Twitter has indicated to the government that it is willing to comply with Indian IT laws.
• This was after Twitter was served with an ultimatum to comply by July 4 or be ready to face consequences, including losing the immunity shield over user content.

What is the issue?

• The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) had issued various directions for blocking certain pieces of content and accounts under Section 69(A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
  • Section 69(A) of the IT Act empowers the government to issue blocking orders to social media companies.
• However, twitter failed to comply with the directions on multiple occasions.
• As a result, the MeitY has given Twitter until July 4 to comply with all its blocking orders.

What happens if Twitter fails to comply?

• As per the new IT rule 2021, if an intermediary fails to observe the rules, it would lose the safe harbour.
  • If Twitter loses its intermediary/safe harbour status, it will make the website legally liable for content posted by users on its platform.
• It will also be liable for punishment under any law for the time being in force including the provisions of the IT Act and the Indian Penal Code.

Previous instance of run in with the government

• Twitter had run into trouble with the government last year as well after a new set of intermediary rules came into effect in May 2021.
• The issue then was over Twitter appointing an external person as its India-based grievance officer.
  • The rules require that the grievance officer be an employee of the company.