Centre issued new guidelines to curb misuse of social media platforms

NEW DELHI: The government of India today issued a notification about new rules for digital content, social media companies, and over-the-top (OTT)platforms.

 

Guidelines for intermediary and social media intermediary:

 

1. Significant' social media intermediaries to follow additional due diligence including appointment of chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person, and a resident grievance officer. All three officials will have to residents in India.

 

2. A grievance officer must be appointed by social media intermediaries to report grievances within 24 hours and shall resolve issues within fifteen days from its receipt.

 

3. Material containing nudity, transformed photographs of women must be deleted in 24 hours.

 

4. Users who wish to verify their accounts voluntarily shall be provided an appropriate mechanism to verify their accounts and provided with a demonstrable and visible mark of verification.

 

5. Social media platforms upon being asked either by a court order or a govt authority should not host or publish any information which is prohibited under any law in relation to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order, friendly relations with foreign countries, etc.

 

6. In cases a significant social media intermediaries removes or disables access to any information on their own accord, then a prior intimation for the same shall be communicated to the user with a notice explaining the grounds and reasons for such action. Users must be provided an adequate and reasonable opportunity to dispute the action taken by the intermediary.

 

7. Intermediary shall not be required to disclose the contents of any message or any other information to the first originator.

 

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Rules related to over-the-top (OTT) and digital media:

1.A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established under the rules with different levels of self-regulation:

A) Level-I: Self-regulation by the publishers;

B) Level-II: Self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the publishers;

C) Level-III: Oversight mechanism.

 

2. Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act thereby providing a level playing field between the offline (Print, TV) and digital media.

 

3. For OTT, there should be self-classification of content — 7+, 13+, 16+, and A and U categories.

 

4. Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.

 

5. There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court, or independent eminent person. This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not  be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.