The cyber and technology related policy debate has been going on in India for a long time now. This can be hugely attributed to the changing nature of impact social media has had on political, business, and social dynamics in a country. The information available online can impact the security and sovereignty of a country. Especially work culture has completely taken a turn post-COVID pandemic whereby online work and services have become prominent. Such developments have made cyber governance a top policy priority.
Over the past few years, the amount of false information being spread on social media platforms has increased exponentially causing great inconvenience to both the government and the audience. These false narratives and misinformation have been witnessed during the farmer’s protests and led to many incidences of people getting killed or hurt due to lynch mobs.
[box type=”info” align=”” class=”” width=””]Cyber Governance and the New IT Rules 2021
To introduce a sense of accountability, credibility as well as to curb the rising false narratives, social media firms operating in India have been asked to implement the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. The new guidelines were released in February 2021, giving social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter three months to comply.[/box]
The new IT Rules 2021 for digital media platforms include the requirement to appoint a ‘resident grievance officer’ as part of a larger grievance redressal mechanism to monitor content on the platform, self-regulation mechanisms along with an oversight mechanism created by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Under the IT Act, intermediaries will be entitled to safe harbour protections if they observe due diligence as prescribed under the 2021 rules and additionally meet the content neutrality conditions under section 79 of the IT Act. Failure to comply with any one of these requirements would take away the protection provided to social media intermediaries.
This special report from MitKat’s Predictive Risk Intelligence Team, gives insight into:
- The latest regulations and analysis of the amended rules.
- Implications of Safe Harbour Protection
- India’s role as a global leader in technological innovations
- Response and impact of the IT Act 2021
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