Amended IT Rules For Social Media: Mixed Bag of Reforms?

Supratim Chakraborty, Associate, Khaitan & Co.

One of the foremost issues as a final result of this new modification is that intermediaries are underneath an obligation to solve a vast scope of information- associated grievances in just a mere span of 72 hours.

Earlier, they experienced up to 15 days to solve these kinds of grievances. This may well guide to a risk the place intermediaries are not able to vet articles-associated problems appropriately and just vacation resort to having down all content material for which problems are obtained.

An alternative solution could have been to provide reduced timelines for severe material norm violations, these kinds of as articles deemed destructive for children.

The amendment also tends to make way for establishment of grievance appellate committees in the context of grievances obtained by intermediaries.

Even further clarity is necessary on this.

The prerequisite to publish rules, privacy policy, conditions of user agreement in nearby Indian languages appears to be quite a novel adjust. Even so, this could prove to be a obstacle for a number of intermediaries, in particular lesser businesses who might not have suitable methods to comply with these kinds of obligation. Translated versions may not always be accurate, unless of course completed by pros.

Further, intermediaries are to make certain accessibility of their solutions for consumers. However, the time period ‘accessibility’ can be interpreted in numerous approaches.

For occasion, accessibility may perhaps be interpreted in the context of creating providers accessible and available by specially abled persons. It can also be recognized as making certain uptime and availability of the intermediaries’ platforms and solutions, with no any hindrance.

Consequently, the precise mother nature of the obligation continues to be unclear.