MeitY proposes changes to IT rules
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has invited fresh comments on the draft amendments to the Information Technology Rules.
The proposed amendments to the Information Technology Rules are aimed at providing additional avenues for grievance redressal, apart from the courts. At the same time, the constitutional rights of Indian citizens also have to be protected.
This will ensure greater vigilance, privacy and transparency for users to access the Services with a reasonable expectation.
Meity has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021) in the year 2021.
Proposed Key Amendments:
- Establishment of Grievance Appellate Committee: This will provide users the option to appeal against the grievance redressal process of intermediaries (legal classification of social media companies). Presently no appellate mechanism has been provided by the intermediaries. Additionally, no reliable self-regulatory mechanism exists.
- If companies are involved in any of the ten types of violations, there will be a 72-hour time limit for the complaints to be processed.
- These violations include copyright infringement, dissemination of defamatory content and providing false information, etc.
- New rules have been added, these include allowing intermediaries to respect the rights provided to users under the Constitution of India. The government has found several intermediaries infringing on the constitutional rights of Indian citizens.
IT Rules, 2021
These rules have been issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000. These rules relating to social media, digital media, and OTT platforms are intended to ensure the following:
- An open, secure, reliable and accountable internet for all Indian internet users.
- In particular the accountability of intermediaries within the Big Tech platform to its users.
Source – The Hindu
