Is Government is determined to ban Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media platform from May 26.

It is crucial moment for the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as they may face a ban in India if they do not comply with new Information Technology Rules 2021 notified by the government by May 26

If these social media platforms fail to accept govt guidelines, they risk losing status as social media platforms and protections as intermediaries. Government can also take action against them as per the law of the land for not following the rules.

Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram may face ban in India if they fail to comply with the new intermediary guidelines for social media platforms. The three-month deadline given by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITy) to accept these guidelines ends today i.e. May 25 but none of the giants have so far accepted the new regulations. The rules will be effective from tomorrow despite these companies seeking a total six-month delay in their implementation.

Except Koo, the Indian version of Twitter, none of the social media giants have complied with the new guidelines ahead of the May 25 deadline. the social media giants may lose their status and protections as intermediaries and criminal action can be taken against them as per the laws of India.

Congress slams ‘raid’ on Twitter offices, calls it attempt to ‘subjugation freedom of speech

Meanwhile, Facebook has indicated that it’ll comply with the IT rules. “We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. According to the IT rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies. Facebook remains committed to people’s ability to freely and safely express themselves on our platform,” an official spokesperson of the twitter spoke today.

Check new IT Rules, Regulations and Penalties 2021

Information Technology (Guidelines for intermediaries and digital media ethics code) Rules, 2021 were notified by the ministry on February 25 for social media intermediaries such as Twitter and Facebook, and over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon.

Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules. Such a person should be a resident in India.

Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a person shall be a resident in India.

Appoint a Resident Grievance Officer who shall perform the functions mentioned under Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India.

Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints as well as details of contents removed proactively by the significant social media intermediary.

Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information that is required only for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order or of incitement to an offence relating to the above or in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years. Intermediary shall not be required to disclose the contents of any message or any other information to the first originator.

Significant social media intermediary shall have a physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile app or both.

Voluntary User Verification Mechanism: Users who wish to verify their accounts voluntarily shall be provided an appropriate mechanism to verify their accounts and provided with demonstrable and visible mark of verification.

Giving Users An Opportunity to Be Heard: In cases where 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 who has shared that information 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.

Removal of Unlawful Information: An intermediary upon receiving actual knowledge in the form of an order by a court or being notified by the Appropriate Govt. or its agencies through authorized officer 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.

The government had set 50 lakh registered users as the threshold for defining ‘significant social media intermediary’, meaning that large players like Twitter, Facebook and Google would have to comply with additional norms. Announcing the guidelines in February, it had said the new rules take effect immediately, while significant social media providers (based on number of users) will get three months before they need to start complying.

Significant social media companies will also have to publish a monthly compliance report disclosing details of complaints received and action taken, as also details of contents removed proactively. They will also be required to have a physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile app, or both.

As per data cited by the government, India has 53 crore WhatsApp users, 44.8 crore YouTube users, 41 crore Facebook subscribers, 21 crore Instagram clients, while 1.75 crore account holders are on microblogging platform Twitter. Koo has close to 60 lakh users, making it a major social media intermediary under the new guidelines