Amid concerns over curbs in freedom of speech in its draft rules for social media, the ministry of electronics and IT on Saturday said the new amendments will make social media safer and not impinge on anybody's privacy neither will get into censorship.
"It is not an effort to curb freedom of speech or get into censorship. If you want to have a society where social media can be misused by terrorists, bad elements...some kind of compromise like tracing of messages...the effort is to just trace the source of such messages but definitely not any curb on freedom," K Gopalakrishnan, joint secretary, ministry of electronics and IT said while responding to a question in a live session on Twitter.
We are not demanding any compromise on encryption, the traceability request is being mixed up with encryption, but that is not the case, he said.
If there are some mischievous messages or child pornographic content, one should be able to trace the origin on the request of law enforcement agencies which will be done through a proper process, another official from the ministry said.
The rules were last changed in 2011. In the past few years, digital transformation has dramatically expanded the social media, necessitating the need to bring in fresh amendments.
On December 24, the ministry had proposed to amend the Information Technology – Intermediaries guidelines, under Section 79 of the IT Act to curb "misuse" of social media and online platforms. The draft of rules are already in the public domain for comments, which can be sent till January 28.
As per the draft rules, it's mandatory for companies to not only trace and report the origin of messages within 72 hours of receiving a complaint from law enforcement agencies but also disable access within 24 hours to content deemed defamatory or against national security and other clauses under Article 19 (2) of the Constitution.
This apart, all platforms with more than five million users will be required to have a registered entity in India under the Companies Act. They will also have to appoint a nodal officer in the country to deal with law enforcement agencies on a 24x7 basis and send communication to users once a month about their privacy policies. This came days after the Union home ministry authorised 10 intelligence and security agencies to intercept data on computers, mobile devices and servers. The move, however, had prompted experts to say the new rules could invade personal privacy and free speech.
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