Social Media / OTT Code Of Conduct: The Containment Zone

The Union government, on February 25, released guidelines for social media, digital news media and OTT (over the top) content providers, seeking to address concerns over transparency and accountability of such platforms.

- Kaushik Deka

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the government said, will “empower ordinary users of digital platforms to seek redressal for their grievances and command accountability in case of infringement of their rights”.

While the guidelines have been in the works for over three years, the immediate trigger was the Republic Day violence in the national capital and the storming of the Red Fort during the tractor rally organised by farmers’ outfits protesting against the contentious new farm laws. The Union government and Twitter had been embroiled in a tug of war over an official diktat to block certain accounts which, according to authorities, were spreading misinformation about the farmers’ agitation or were stoking Khalistani sentiment. The new guidelines are being seen as an attempt to police global tech giants that have allegedly not been transparent about their functioning.

One of the game-changing provisions in the regulations is the near-total dilution of ‘safe harbour’ immunity hitherto enjoyed by both messaging intermediaries such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, and social media intermediaries such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, provides ‘safe harbour’ to intermediaries that host user-generated content and exempts them from liability for the actions of users if they otherwise adhere to government guidelines. But the new rules prescribe due diligence code intermediaries must adhere to in order to stay on the right side of the Indian law.