Centre amending IT Act to regulate social media, Rajya Sabha informed

The Centre is in the final stage of amending the Information Technology (IT) Act to regulate social media platforms, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

In reply to a question of Congress MP Pradeep Bhattacharya, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Sanjay Dhotre said that social media platforms are defined as intermediaries and have to follow "certain due diligence."

In reply to the question that 'whether it's a fact that government is preparing social media regulation/laws to regulate social media,' Dhotre said: "Yes, Social media platforms are intermediaries as defined in the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. They have to follow certain due diligence as prescribed in the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 notified under section 79 of the IT Act."

He said that the ministry had proposed to amend the "said rules and the proposed amendments were published on its website on December 12, 2018".

"MeitY received 171 comments and 80 counter comments from individuals, civil society, industry associations and organisations. The comments so received have been analysed and rules are being finalised," the minister said.

Under the amended rules, the minister said, social media platforms would have to ensure "traceability of the originator of the information" and remove "malicious content in 24 hours upon receiving a court order or when notified by an appropriate government".

Significant intermediaries (social media platforms) having more than 50 lakh users need to have an office in India and to appoint a nodal officer for liaisoning with law enforcement agencies, the reply reads.