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

The Government of India on Friday, October 28, amended IT (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics) Rules. The amended rules make it mandatory for intermediaries like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc to comply with the 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 the new notification issued by the IT Ministry, the new rules read as follows: 

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

Appeal to Grievance Appellate Committee(s):

• The Central Government shall, by notification, establish one or more Grievance Appellate Committees within three months from the date of commencement of the 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 the Central Government, of which one shall be a member ex-officio and two shall be independent members.
• Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Grievance Officer may prefer an appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of communication from the Grievance Officer.
• The Grievance Appellate Committee shall deal with such appeal expeditiously and shall make an endeavour to resolve the appeal finally within thirty calendar days from the date of receipt of the appeal.
• While dealing with the appeal if the Grievance Appellate Committee feels necessary, it may seek assistance from any person having requisite qualifications, experience and expertise in the subject matter.
• The Grievance Appellate Committee shall adopt an online dispute resolution mechanism wherein the entire appeal process, from filing of appeal to the decision thereof, shall be conducted through digital mode.
• Every order passed by the Grievance Appellate Committee shall be complied with by the intermediary concemed and a report to that effect shall be uploaded on its website.