Lok Sabha Question No. 1831 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-13
Subject: Circulation of Malicious Content
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: B.V. NAYAK, S.P. MUDDAHANUMEGOWDA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1831

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 13.02.2019

## CIRCULATION OF MALICIOUS CONTENT

## 1831 SHRI B.V. NAIK: SHRI S.P. MUDDAHANUME GOWDA:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether despite the enactment of IT Act, 2000, misinformation and malicious content is being openly circulated on social media on a daily basis;
- (b) if so, the total number of cases that have come to the notice of the Government during the last four years;
- (c) whether it is a fact that the Government has some additional plan/ policy to counter this spread of false information, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the action taken/proposed to be taken by the Government against the guilty?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI S.S. AHLUWALIA)

(a),  (b)  and  (c)  : Cyber  space  is  a  complex  environment  of  people,  software,  hardware  and  services  on  the Internet. With a borderless cyberspace coupled with the possibility of instant communication and anonymity, the potential for circulation of misinformation and malicious content is a global issue. The social media sites are Intermediaries under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.

The IT Act has provisions for removal of objectionable  online  content.    Section  79  of the  Act  provides  that intermediaries are required to disable/remove unlawful content on being notified by appropriate government or its agency. The Information  Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 notified under section 79 of the IT Act require that the Intermediaries shall observe due diligence while discharging their duties and shall inform the  users  of  computer  resources  not  to  host,  display,  upload,  modify,  publish,  transmit,  update  or  share  any information that is, inter alia, grossly harmful, harassing, defamatory, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, or otherwise unlawful in any manner.

They are also expected to remove any unlawful activity relatable to Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India as and when brought to their knowledge either through a court order or through a notice by appropriate government or  its  agency.  Government  is  committed  to  freedom  of  speech  and  expression  and  privacy  of  its  citizens  as enshrined in the constitution of India.

In  addition,  Section  69A  of  the  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  empowers  Government  to  block  any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource in the interest of  - (i) sovereignty and integrity of India, (ii) defence of India, (iii) security of the State, (iv) friendly relations with foreign States, (v) public order, or (vi) for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above. Details of URLs having malicious content blocked during the last 4 years under the provisions of said section is as follows :

Year

No. of URLs blocked

|   2015 |   500 |
|--------|-------|
|   2016 |   633 |
|   2017 |  1385 |
|   2018 |  2799 |

(d):  Government  has  taken  several  steps  to  actively  dismiss  fake  clips  and  to  spread  information regarding authenticity of clips. These, inter alia , include :

-  Ministry of Electronics and  Information Technology (MeitY) took note of media reports about  spread  of  fake  news,  misinformation/disinformation  on  Internet  particularly  using WhatsApp  platform  and  issued  a  notice  to  WhatsApp  on  3.7.2018.  In  their  response, WhatsApp conveyed a number of steps taken by them to address the issue of fake news propagated using their platform.
-  Ministry  of  Home  affairs  (MHA)  has  issued  a  number  of    advisories  which  includes advisory  on  untoward  incidents  in  the  name  of  protection  of  cows  dated  09.08.2016, advisory on cyber crime prevention and control dated 13.01.2018 and  also an advisory on incidents of lynching by mobs in some States fuelled by rumours of lifting/kidnapping of children dated 04.07.2018.
-  MeitY and MHA as well as Police are in regular touch with   various social media platforms to effectively address the issue of  removal of objectionable content.
-  MeitY through a program, namely, Information Security Education & Awareness (ISEA), has  been  highlighting  the  importance  of  following  the  ethics  while  using  Internet  and advice  not  to  share  rumours/fake  news.  A  dedicated  website  for  information  security awareness (https://www.infosecawareness.in) has also been set up where a module on fake news have been provided.