Lok Sabha Question No. 1383 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-27
Subject: Misuse of Social Media
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: S. Jagathrakshakan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1383

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 27.11.2019

## MISUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

## 1383. SHRI S. JAGATHRAKSHAKAN:

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

- (a) whether the Government has taken any step or/and enacted any law to prevent all types of social media from publishing any kind of obscene pictures, photos and other pornographic literature and materials;
- (b)  if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)   if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

(a)  to  (c) : Social  media  sites,  for  the  user  generated  contents,  are  intermediaries  as  defined  in  the Information  Technology  Act,  2000.  The  intermediaries  have  exemption  from  liability  subject  to  certain conditions as specified in section 79 and the rules notified therein. They need to publish their terms and conditions  and  privacy  policy  which inter  alia ,  should  inform  users  not  to  publish  any  kind  of  obscene pictures, photos and other pornographic literature and materials. Further the intermediaries are also expected to remove any unlawful content 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  an  appropriate  government  or  its agency.

Government  has  taken  several  steps  to  curb  online  publishing  of  obscene  pictures,  photos  and  other pornographic literature and materials. These, inter alia , include :

(i) Enactment  of  The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  which  has  provisions  to  deal  with  obscenity. Sections  66E,  67,  and  67A  of  the  Act  provides  for  the  punishment  and  fine  for  violation  of  privacy, publishing  or  transmitting  of  obscene  material  and  publishing  or  transmitting  of  material  containing sexually-explicit  material  respectively  in  electronic  form.  Section  67B  of  the  Act  specifically  provides stringent punishment for publishing, browsing or transmitting child pornography in electronic form. Further, sections 354A and 354D of Indian Penal Code provide punishment for cyber bullying and cyber stalking.

(ii) Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for certain due diligence to be followed by  Intermediaries  failing  which  they  would  be  liable.  The  Information  Technology  (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 notified under this section, inter alia , specifies that the intermediaries shall inform the users of their computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is grossly harmful, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, harms minor in any way; violates any law for the time being in force; etc.

(iii) Government periodically blocks the websites containing extreme child sexual abuse material (CSAM) based on INTERPOL's 'worst of list' received through Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the national nodal agency for Interpol in India.

(iv) Government  has  asked  concerned  Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs)  to  work  out  a  suitable arrangement for receiving  Internet  Watch  Foundation  (IWF),  UK  list  of  CSAM  websites/webpages  on a dynamic basis and block access to child pornography webpages/websites.

(v) Department of Telecom (DoT) has requested all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to make suitable arrangement to spread awareness among their subscribers about the use of parental control filters in the enduser machines through messages of email, invoices, SMS, website, etc.

(vi) Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is implementing a comprehensive central sector scheme, namely 'Centre for Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)' to handle issues related to cyber-crime against women and children.

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