Posts inimical to sovereignty, integrity, national security, public order or sexually explicit, social media sites have to disclose who started it.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) on Thursday, announced the draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, for social media platforms, OTT players and digital media.
The government's new rules to regulate digital content requires social media giants to disclose 'first originator' of a post that is found objectionable or offensive.
As per the recommendations, social media companies have to give out the originator of a message or tweet as the case may be. This means for Facebook owned messaging app, WhatsApp, it means that they will be forced to break end-to-end encryption in India in order to comply with the new rules.
"We have not framed any new law. We have framed these rules under the existing IT Act," MeITY minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said during a press conference. "We are trusting the platforms to follow these regulations," he said. "The focus of this guideline is on self-regulation," Ravi Shankar Prasad added.
For any posts inimical to the country's sovereignty, integrity, national security, public order or sexually explicit, social media sites have to disclose who started it.
"Who began the mischief? You have to say," Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters while announcing the rules.
Social media platforms will also be required to have a provision for voluntary verification of users, Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
They will have to appoint India-based compliance officers. If they remove content, they will be required to inform users, give reasons for taking down their post and hear them out.
The rules make traceability of the originator of messages a must on prominent social media sites, goes against end-to-end encryption on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Signal.
The rules also say that users who wish to verify their accounts voluntarily shall be provided an appropriate mechanism to verify their accounts and provided with demonstrable and visible mark of verification.
Pointers on what 'Track First Originator' means
New rules call for tracking of the 'first originator' of a message and apply to a significant social media intermediary.
It wants the significant social media intermediary to have physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile app or both.
The government says it is not interested in the content of the message, they wish to know who started the 'mischief'.
It wants social media platforms to disclose the 'first originator' of the mischievous tweet or message as the case maybe.
This will be required in matters related to security and sovereignty of India, public order, or with regard to rape or any other sexually explicit material.
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