Social media under scanner

It has taken over a year for the Centre to take a call on the inherent weakness of its 2021 Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules by proposing to constitute a grievance appellate panels to take a final decision on social media takedowns in its draft amendment to the 2021 IT rules. As per the draft notification, intermediaries have to acknowledge suspension, removal or blocking of any user or user account or any complaint from its users in the nature of request for removal of information or communication link within 24 hours and dispose of the complaint within 15 days. In the case of any complaints in the nature of request for removal of information or communication link carrying defamatory, obscene, pornographic, invasive of another’s privacy, libellous, false and untrue information, those should be redressed within 72 hours of the reporting, according to the draft notification. In 2021, the central government notified new, stricter guidelines for social media intermediaries that will make it mandatory for platforms such as WhatsApp to aid in identifying the “originator” of “unlawful” messages. Social media organisations such as Twitter, Facebok and YouTube were required to take down unlawful of defamatory messages in their platforms that serve to create hatred, animosity and social unrest. Having received numerous complaints of either non-compliance or slow compliance, the Centre plans to set up an appellate committee to look into appeals filed by individuals against the decisions of grievance officers of social media platforms. Besides, the panel has to dispose of the appeals within 30 days of receiving them and its decision will be binding on the intermediaries or the large social media companies concerned, according to a notification to amend the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Under the rules, significant social media intermediaries — those with over 50 lakh users – are required to appoint a grievance officer, a nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. These personnel have to be residents in India. Since the implementation of the rules in May last year, various social media platforms, including Facebook, have been coming out with monthly compliance reports. In its compliance report for April, mobile messaging platform WhatsApp said it banned over 16 lakh accounts of Indian users in April to prevent harmful activities on the platform. There has been a rise of around 37.82 per cent in hate speech on social media platform Facebook and 86 per cent jump in violent and inciting content on Instagram in April, as per the monthly report released by Meta that include Facebook and WhatsApp. Over the years, the increasing instances of misuse of social media by criminals, anti-national elements have brought new challenges for law enforcement agencies. These include inducement for recruitment of terrorists, circulation of obscene content, spread of disharmony, financial frauds, incitement of violence, public order etc. These concerns have been raised from time to time in various forums including in the Parliament and its committees, judicial orders and in civil society deliberations in different parts of country. Such concerns are also raised all over the world and it is becoming an international issue. Notwithstanding cries over government overreach, users have to blame criminal elements who abuse freedom for leading to such a situation.