Lok Sabha Question No. 835 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-07
Subject: Access to Obscene Websites
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Veena Devi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 835

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2024

## ACCESS TO OBSCENE WEBSITES

## 835. SHRIMATI VEENA DEVI:

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

(a) the current viewpoint of the Government with regard to adult film and obscene content alongwith the details thereof;

(b) the details of adequate restrictions/measures taken to regulate the said content;

(c) whether the internet traffic leading towards the obscene websites has come down in the country and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(d) the corrective measures taken/proposed to betaken by the Government to reduce the said internet traffic during the last three years?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) to (d): The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring that the Internet in India is Open, Safe & Trusted and Accountable to all our Digital Nagriks.

The  Internet  technology  and  Internet  was  seen  as  force  for  good,  but  in  recent  years, technology is also exploited for causing user harms and criminality. The number of Internet users  in  India  are  expected  to  increase  from  85  crores  today  to  120  crore  users  by  2026 making  India  the  largest  connected  democracy  on  the  global  Internet.  The  Government  is fully committed to exploit the good of the technologies but is cognizant of the harms, risks and   criminalities. The Government intends to ensure the Internet in general and information on it is safe& trusted and takes suitable steps on an ongoing basis to tackle the bad actors.

Government is aware of the need to prescribe the guardrails and increase the accountability of social media platforms and therefore, to meet the need for prescribing adequate regulations and to implement the Government's policy towards ensuring that Internet in India is Open, Safe  and  Trusted  and  Accountable  for  all  Digital  Nagriks,  the  Ministry  of  Electronics  and Information  Technology  ('MeitY')  engages  with  and  receives  inputs  from  the  public  and stakeholders, including in respect of changes required to existing legislation and the need to introduce fresh legislation.

Accordingly, to ensure that Internet in India is Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable, the Central  Government  after  extensive  public  consultations  with  relevant  stakeholders  has notified  the  Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and  Digital  Media  Ethics Code)  Rules,  2021  ('IT  Rules,  2021')  on  25.02.2021  which  was  subsequently  amended 28.10.2022 and 6.4.2023.

The IT Rules, 2021 cast specific legal obligations on intermediaries, including social media intermediaries and platforms, to ensure their accountability towards safe & trusted Internet including their expeditious action towards removal of the prohibited information which are obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another's privacy including bodily privacy, etc. including any misinformation, patently false information and deepfakes. In case of failure of the intermediaries to observe the legal obligations as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, they lose  their  safe  harbour  protection  under  section  79  of  the  IT  Act  and  shall  be  liable  for consequential  action  or  prosecution  as  provided  under  any  law  for  the  time  being  in  force including the IT Act and the Indian Penal Code ('IPC') such as undersections292 and 293of the IPC.

It is further informed that sections 67, 67A and 67B of the IT Act punish for publishing or transmitting  material  that  is  obscene,  containing  sexually  explicit  act,  etc.,  and  depicting children  in  sexually  explicit  act,  etc.  in  electronic  form,  respectively.    Any  offence  under section 67 is punishable with imprisonment up to three years and with fine up to five lakh rupees on first conviction and five years and with fine up to ten lakh rupees on subsequent conviction and is a cognizable offence, whereas, offences under sections 67A and 67B are punishable with imprisonment up to five years and with fine up to ten lakh rupees on first conviction and seven years and with fine up to ten lakh rupees on subsequent conviction and are cognizable offences.

In addition to the punishment under the IT Act, other laws such as the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 200 (POCSO) also penalise the sale, distribution etc. of  obscenebooks  and  content.  Under  Section  292  of  the  IPC,  the  sale,  distribution,  public exhibition,  advertisement,  etc.  of  books,  pamphlets,  papers,  writings,  drawings,  paintings, representations, figures or any objects are punishable on first conviction with imprisonment of up to two years, and with fine of up to two thousand rupees, and, for second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of up to five years, and also with fine of up to five thousand rupees.  Section  293  of  the  IPC  penalises  these  acts  when  the  sale,  distribution,  public exhibition,  advertisement,  etc.  of  books,  pamphlets,  papers,  writings,  drawings,  paintings, representations, figures or any objects to persons below  the age of 20 years with imprisonment  of  up  to  three  years,  and  with  fine  of  up  to  two  thousand  rupees  for  first conviction  and  with  imprisonment  of  up  to  seven  years,  and  fine  of  up  to  five  thousand rupees for second or subsequent conviction. Under Section 15 of POCSO, storage of child pornographic  materials  with  the  intent  to  publish  or  share  the  same  is  punishable  with imprisonment of up to five years and fine.

Further, the Government issues lawful directions for blocking for access of  information by public under Section 69A of the IT Act which provides power to government to issue such directions if it is necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of sovereignty and integrity, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for inciting cognizable offence relating to above. MeitY follows due process as envisaged in the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information for Public) Rules, 2009.

Further, the IT Rules, 2021 cast the obligations on the intermediary platforms to not allow hosting,  sharing,  uploading,  transmitting,  etc.  of  any  prohibited  information  under  Rule 3(1)(b)  that  includes  information  which  is  obscene,  pornographic,  paedophilic,  invasive  of another's privacy including bodily privacy, etc.

The IT Rules, 2021 cast the following legal obligations, among others:

- (i) Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules, 2021 prohibits eleven types of content on the Indian Internet available on the intermediary platform including social media platforms.
- (ii) Platforms  are  required  to  ensure  that  their  users  do  not  use  their  platforms  for sharing  or  transmitting  content  that  violates  Rule  3(1)(b)  and  other  laws  and  that their terms of use expressly restrict use of eleven types of content under the law.
- (iii) Rule  3(1)(b)(ii)  of  the  IT  Rules,  2021  prohibits  any  information  that  is  obscene, pornographic, paedophilic,  invasive  of  another's  privacy  including  bodily  privacy, etc.
- (iv) Rule 3(1)(b)(v) and (vi) of the IT Rules, 2021 prohibits misinformation and patently false  information  on  the  Indian  Internet  or  that  impersonates  another  person. Deepfakes are another form of misinformation powered by Al.
- (v) Rule  3(1)(d)  of  the  IT  Rules,  2021  mandates  the  platforms  to  ensure  expeditious action, well within the timeframes stipulated under the IT Rules, 2021, to remove or disable access to information/content that violates the aforesaid provisions of the IT

Rules,  2021,  upon  receipt  of  court  orders  or  notification  from  the  Appropriate Government  or  its  authorised  agency  or  on  complaint  made  by  the  impersonated individual or person authorised by him in this behalf.

- (vi) Rule  4(2)  of  the  IT  Rules,  2021  prescribes  that  the  significant  social  media intermediaries shall cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) for prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment by enabling identification  of  the  first  originator  of  information  related  to  the  sovereignty  and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or of incitement to an offence relating to the above or in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The Government has also established Grievance Appellate Committees under the IT Rules, 2021 to allow users and victims to appeal online on www.gac.gov.in against decisions taken by the Grievance Officers of intermediaries in case they are dissatisfied with the decision of the Grievance Officer in case of legal violations including obscenity, vulgarity, misinformation and deepfakes or where the Grievance Officers fails to redress the grievances from  users  or  victims  or  an  individual  or  any  person  on  his  behalf  within  the  timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021.

To  prevent  the  harms  caused  by  misinformation  through  deepfakes  and  obscenity,  MeitY conducted multiple Digital India Dialogues ('DID') with leading social media platforms to caution  them  about  their  legal  obligations  and  consequences  of  prosecution  under  relevant law if any of the prohibited contents is found on their platform including but not limited to deepfakes.

The  Government  has  informed  platforms,  as  part  of  its  zero  tolerance  policy  towards enforcement  for  100%  compliance,  that  the  terms  of  use  should  be  completely  aligned  to Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules, 2021 and their users should be cautioned at log in and at regular intervals  about  the  prohibited  content  that  are  not  permitted  on  their  platforms  to  ensure complete awareness amongst their users about what is permissible or not on their platforms under the IT Rules, 2021.

Also,  they  have  been  reminded  about  their  obligations  of  expeditious  action  under  the  IT Rules, 2021, to remove or disable access to information/content that violates the aforesaid provisions of the IT Rules, 2021.

While MeitY has been issuing time-to-time advisories to the intermediaries, through its latest such an advisory dated 26 th December 2023, MeitY has directed intermediaries for ensuring compliances with the prescribed due diligence and Grievance Reporting Mechanism under the  IT  Rules,  2021,  the  failure  to  observance  of  which  on  the  part  of  intermediaries  will amount to non-compliance with the IT Rules, 2021 and result in the concerned intermediary automatically losing exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act. This advisory includes inter-alia the following directions that-

- i. Ensure that users on social media platforms do not violate prohibited content in Rule 3(1)(b) of IT Rules 2021.
- ii. Prohibited content to be expressly informed to the user at the time of first-registration and also as regular reminders, in particular, at every instance of login.
- iii. Users to be made aware of penal provisions under IPC, IT Act and other laws that may be attracted in case of violation of Rule 3(1)(b).
- iv. Terms of service and user agreements must clearly highlight obligation of intermediaries  to  report  legal  violations  to  the  law  enforcement  agencies  under  the applicable laws;
- v. Intermediaries should identify and  remove  misinformation  or  information  that impersonates another person, including those created using deepfakes.
- vi. Intermediaries must enable users, victims or any person on their behalf, to also report violations relating to Rule 3(1)(b) or Rule 3(2)(b) in a simple and easily accessible manner, including through in-app user reporting.
- vii. Intermediaries  must  comply  with  the  orders  of  the  Grievance  Appellate  Committee within the timeline mentioned in the order and publish a report.
- viii. Intermediaries should take additional measures to not permit any  advertisements of illegal loan and betting apps.
- ix. Intermediaries have been warned that non-compliance will lead to loosing exemption from liability provided under section 79(1) of IT Act.

Pursuant to the multiple industry stakeholder consultations through DID, MeitY has issued this  advisory  for  all  intermediaries  on  26.12.2023  directing  them  to  comply  with  the obligations  under  the  IT  Rules,  2021  so  as  to  expeditiously  tackle  the  emerging  issues  of obscenity  and  synthetic  media  like  misinformation  &  deepfakes  and  concerns  of  curbing other harmful content on the Internet.

In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs operates a National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in)  to  enable  citizens  to  report  complaints  pertaining  to  all  types  of cybercrimes, and also operates a toll-free helpline (1930).

******