Lok Sabha Question No. 4635 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: Impact of New IT Rules
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: T. R. Paarivendhar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4635

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 24.03.2021

## IMPACT  OF NEW IT RULES

## 4635.   DR. T.R.PAARIVENDHAR:

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

- (a)   whether  the  Government  has  laid  down  Information  Technology  (Guidelines  for  Intermediaries  and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and if the details thereof;
- (b)   the salient features of the said new rules and the impact it is going to have on social and digital media companies; and
- (c)   the time by which this rule will be implemented?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to  (c):  Government  of  India  has  notified  the  Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on 25 th February 2021 under the Information Technology Act, 2000. These  Rules  are  available  on  Ministry  of  Electronics  &  Information  Technology  (MeitY)    website  : https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Intermediary\_Guidelines\_and\_Digital\_Media\_Ethics\_Code\_Rul es-2021.pdf .

The Rules are primarily in two parts. Part-II of the Rules, broadly administered by MeitY provide for due diligence to be followed by intermediaries and the additional due diligence to be followed by significant social media intermediaries.  The  rules  aim  to  protect  the  rights  of  users  and  make  the  social  media  intermediary platforms accountable to laws of India against the online content, information and activities. The social media platforms  are  enjoined  to  develop  a  robust  grievance  redressal  system.  The  intermediaries  are  required  to publish  privacy  policy,  rules  and  regulations  and  terms  and  conditions.    They are  also  expected  to remove/disable  content  as  and  when  brought  to  their  knowledge  either  through  a  court  order  or  through  a notice  by  appropriate  government  or  its  agency.  Intermediaries  are  required  to  inform  their  users  not  to publish/share/host any unlawful content. They are also expected to remove any unlawful content as and when brought to their knowledge either through a court order or through a notice by appropriate government or its agency.

Part-III  of  the  Rules,  administered  by  Ministry  of  Information  &  Broadcasting,    require  that  publishers  of news and current affairs shall observe the Code of Ethics which includes adherence to :

- (i) Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India under the Press Council Act, 1978;
- (ii) Programme Code under section 5 of the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995;
- (iii)   Content  which  is  prohibited  under  any  law  for  the  time  being  in  force  shall  not  be  published  or transmitted.

The Rules also suggest a balanced approach to create a soft-touch self-regulatory architecture and a Code of Ethics  and  three  tier  grievance  redressal  mechanism  for  digital  media  in  the  nature  of  News  and  Current affairs in the online platform and Films and Audio-visual programmes made available by the online content providers.

The Rules have come in effect from the date of their notification, i.e. 25-02-2021, except for the additional due  diligence  for  significant  social  media  intermediaries,  which  shall  come  in  effect  3  months  after notification of these Rules.

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