No proposal to appoint regulator for social media: Ravi Shankar Prasad

The government on Wednesday informed the Parliament that there is no proposal with the IT Ministry to set up a regulator for social media. The government has released Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, under the IT Act. The act specifies that due diligence needs to be carried out by all digital intermediaries including social media intermediaries.

“The social media are enjoined to develop a robust grievance redressal system. Presently, there is no proposal with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to appoint a regulator for social media” Prasad informed the Lok Sabha.

The new IT rules require social media firms and OTT platforms to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and set up a complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in the country.

The rules related to social media platforms will be handled by IT Ministry while the Information and Broadcasting Ministry will look at content related issues on entertainment apps and online news portals.

Prasad noted that under Provision 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act 2000, the government blocks unlawful and malicious online content and social media accounts. Under this Provision, 9849 URLs/ accounts/ webpages were blocked in 2020.