Draft IT regulations may widen govt oversight on social media content

The Centre has proposed allowing the I&B Ministry to issue takedown notices directly to individual users, expanding scrutiny of social media content under draft changes to IT Rules, 2021

The Centre on Monday proposed to allow the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to issue takedown notices directly to individual users, widening the scope of scrutiny over social media content.

 

The proposal is part of a draft amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. It seeks to bring independent news and general affairs content creators on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) under the ambit of the IT Rules.

 

If implemented, the changes would empower the MIB to issue blocking orders for content hosted on social media platforms or direct users to modify content found to be in violation of norms applicable to news publishers. Under the current rules, the Ministry could issue such notices only to online news platforms.

 

 

What else has been proposed

The proposal also stated that any advisories issued by the Centre to social media intermediaries must be mandatorily complied with. Such advisories will form a part of the intermediaries’ due diligence requirements for retaining safe harbour protections under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act of 2000, the proposal said.

 

"The amendments are clarificatory and procedural in nature and are intended to improve legal certainty, strengthen enforceability of Ministry directions, and ensure effective oversight of intermediary-hosted content, particularly news and current affairs," the ministry said.

 

It added that the proposed amendments seek to strengthen compliance with clarifications, advisories and directions issued by it (under Part II) and to enhance the effectiveness of regulatory oversight of content regulation mechanisms under Part III (Code of Ethics relating to Digital Media) of the IT Rules, 2021.

 

The proposal also seeks to strengthen Rule 14 to expand the scope and functioning of the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) to consider matters beyond complaints, including those referred by the ministry.

 

Why it matters

A digital rights advocacy group, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), has raised concerns over the draft provisions, saying they "represent a dangerous expansion of executive power over online speech".

 

"The original proviso to Rule 8 (1) stated that Part III applied to intermediaries only for the purposes of rules 15 and 16, that is, content blocking directions and emergency blocking. The amended proviso now extends this to Rule 14, bringing intermediaries and user-generated news/current affairs content under the jurisdiction of the IDC," the IFF said.

 

Regarding the proposal that mandated compliance by intermediaries, the IFF said, "Any failure to comply with any ministry-issued instrument, however vague, however rapidly issued, may cost them their safe harbour. The response for an intermediary is over-compliance and over-censorship".

 

"These proposed amendments come at a time of fear and increased government-directed censorship, especially of online political speech that includes parody and satire of the government, including the Prime Minister," the IFF said in a post on X.

 

These amendments also come shortly after the Centre changed takedown timelines to retain safe harbour to two to three hours from 24-36 hours. Since then, Meta has been taking down more posts and accounts under such notice, according to a report by The Hindu. The report also noted that several takedown notices were issued in recent weeks, including over animations featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi by news website The Wire, posts on X criticising or mocking the government, and AI-generated satirical videos by the Congress.

 

When asked about the same, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the newspaper that the Centre was targeting "AI-generated deepfakes" and "fake news".