India amends IT rules; social media & big-tech must comply with Constitution & Laws

Government of India on Friday, October 28, amended IT (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics) Rules. amended rules make it mandatory for intermediaries like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc to comply with Constitution of India provisions and India's sovereign laws. 

Under new IT Rules, those with grievances related to suspensions, blocks, etc, by intermediaries like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram can now approach Grievance Appellate Committees. Intermediaries shall have to comply with orders of Grievance Appellate Committees.

In new notification issued by IT Ministry, new rules re as follows: 

• intermediary shall prominently publish on its website, mobile-based application or both, as case may be, rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement in English or any language specified in Eighth Schedule to Constitution for access or usage of its computer resource by any person in language of his choice and ensure compliance of same. 
• intermediary shall inform its rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement to user in English or any language specified in Eighth Schedule to Constitution in language of his choice and shall make reasonable efforts to cause user of its computer resource not to host, display, uplo, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that, belongs to anor person and to which user does not have any right; (ii) is obscene, pornographic, pacdophilic, invasive of anor's privacy including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on basis of gender, racially or ethnically objectionable, relating to or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or caste with intent to incite violence; (iii)  is harmful to child; (iv)  infringes any patent, tremark, copyright or or proprietary rights; (v) deceives or misles dressee about origin of message or knowingly and intentionally communicates any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleing in nature; (vi) impersonates anor person: (vii) threatens unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or causes incitement to commission of any cognisable offence, or prevents investigation of any offence, or is insulting or nation; (viii) contains a software virus or any or computer code, file or program designed to interrupt, destroy or limit functionality of any computer resource; (ix) violates any law for time being in force.
• intermediary shall periodically, and at least once a year, inform its users in English or any language specified in Eighth Schedule to Constitution in language of his choice of its rules and regulations, privacy policy or user agreement or any change in rules and regulations, privacy policy or user agreement, as case may be. 
• intermediary shall take all reasonable measures to ensure accessibility of its services to users along with reasonable expectations of due diligence, privacy and transparency. 
• intermediary shall respect all rights accorded to citizens under Constitution, including in articles 14, 19 and 21.”; (b) in sub-rule (2), in clause (a), for sub-clause (i), following sub-clause shall be substituted, namely:— (i) acknowledge complaint within twenty-four hours and resolve such complaint within a period of fifteen days from date of its receipt: Provided that complaint in nature of request for removal of information or communication link relating to clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 3, except sub-clauses (i), (iv) and (ix), shall be acted upon as expeditiously as possible and shall be resolved within seventy-two hours of such reporting. 
• Provided furr that appropriate safeguards may be developed by intermediary to avoid any misuse by users; 4, After rule 3 of said rules, following rule shall be inserted. 

Appeal to Grievance Appellate Committee(s):

• Central Government shall, by notification, establish one or more Grievance Appellate Committees within three months from date of commencement of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics
• Code) Amendment Rules, 2022.
• Each Grievance Appellate Committee shall consist of a chairperson and two whole-time members appointed by Central Government, of which one shall be a member ex-officio and two shall be independent members.
• Any person aggrieved by a decision of Grievance Officer may prefer an appeal to Grievance Appellate Committee within a period of thirty days from date of receipt of communication from Grievance Officer.
• Grievance Appellate Committee shall deal with such appeal expeditiously and shall make an endeavour to resolve appeal finally within thirty calendar days from date of receipt of appeal.
• While dealing with appeal if Grievance Appellate Committee feels necessary, it may seek assistance from any person having requisite qualifications, experience and expertise in subject matter.
• Grievance Appellate Committee shall opt an online dispute resolution mechanism wherein entire appeal process, from filing of appeal to decision reof, shall be conducted through digital mode.
• Every order passed by Grievance Appellate Committee shall be complied with by intermediary concemed and a report to that effect shall be uploed on its website.