Will India govt block social media giants like Facebook, Twitter from 26 May?

May 25: On Tuesday, there were much apprehension among netizns that major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram would face bans if they failed to comply with the government’s new intermediary guidelines for social media platforms. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had given a three-month deadline to the organisations to accept the guidelines by May 25, but so far, excepting Koo- Indian version of Twitter, none of the others has accepted yet. The rules will be effective from May 26,  despite these companies seeking a total six-month delay in their implementation.

As part of the new rules for significant social media intermediaries –the government has defined these as platforms with over 50 lakh users– companies will have to appoint ‘grievance officers in the country to act on complaints. They will have to work within strict deadlines to resolve these complaints – complaints must be acknowledged within a day and addressed within a fortnight, content must be taken down within 36 hours, law enforcement must be assisted within 72 hours, for example. In addition, companies who are significant social media intermediaries will have to implement “automated tools” to ensure that the rules relating to content removal are efficiently adhered to.

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 company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Twitter said they keep their own fact-checkers that neither identifies nor reveal how the facts are being investigated.

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. The rules also state that users will have to be provided with a prior intimation and explanation when a significant social media intermediary removes content on its own. In such cases, users have to be provided an adequate and reasonable opportunity to dispute the action taken by the intermediary.

Meanwhile, industry experts believe that social media giants must comply with new IT rules and government can also take a mid-ground. These platforms are now an integral part of digital media and should not be taken off.

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.