Tech giants Facebook and Twitter started a face-off with tech giants Facebook and Twitter, following their new guidelines for social media intermediaries underneath the IT Act of 2000, with the Center “to deal with the current and future circumstances” of the fully new IT A brand new spherical of session for the legislation has began. Indian Express has discovered.
In February, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had issued stringent guidelines for social media middlemen underneath the present IT Act, which was challenged by a number of stakeholders in numerous excessive courts. Both the Madras and Bombay High Courts have stayed the operation of main components of the foundations. The Bombay High Court noticed that the brand new guidelines are “clearly unreasonable and beyond the scope of the IT Act, its objectives and provisions”.
Senior authorities officers informed Indian Express That the brand new legislation, when it’s enacted, “will incorporate all these rules”, together with the institution of a grievance redressal and compliance mechanism, and the authorities. “Our objective is to make sure compliance. If compliance can occur with out litigation, why not? A senior official mentioned.
However, the official mentioned that there could also be some modifications to take away any prison legal responsibility on the grievance and compliance officers appointed by the middlemen.
The new act can also be prone to embody provisions that cowl “new aspects of technology”, corresponding to blockchain, bitcoin and the darkish internet, amongst others.
“The previous IT Act of 2000 was formulated primarily conserving in thoughts easy fraud prevention, blocking of internet sites and numerous varieties of unlawful content material. Lots has modified. There could be no level in amending the previous legislation. “We will introduce a new law to deal with current and future situations,” an official mentioned.
Officials mentioned the brand new legislation would outline numerous types of on-line sexual harassment, corresponding to stalking, intimidation, morphing photographs and different strategies, in addition to set clear tips on punishment for these offences.
“Right now, online bullying, or stalking, or other forms of sexual harassment include precise penal provisions such as making unsolicited comments, morphing photos, releasing or posting private photos without anyone’s consent, without any legal definition is not. Intermediaries are doing it, but it is on a case-by-case basis. A pan-India law is needed,” mentioned an official.
The new IT Act can even enhance the accountability on middlemen for the content material current and posted on their platform. “The protection that Section 79 (of the present IT Act) provides is very broad. A social media intermediary cannot claim protection if he does not actively work on removing obscene material, nudity, or messages that promote terror and disruption on his platform,” mentioned an official.
Another main change, which is also included within the new information safety legislation that’s within the works, is a stricter ‘age-fixing’ coverage, which requires mother and father to enroll in social media web sites when kids are signed up for social media websites. consent might be required. Social media intermediaries have opposed the plan, however officers mentioned the federal government wished to make sure that kids underneath 18 “feel safe and secure on the internet”.
Earlier this yr, the IT ministry’s new guidelines for social media middlemen led to a standoff with Facebook and Twitter, each of which finally employed complaints and compliance personnel, however approached the courtroom.
The ministry had additionally requested these platforms to submit month-to-month reviews on complaints obtained from customers and motion taken. The third requirement was for fast messaging apps to make provisions to trace the originator of a message.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
