Lok Sabha Question No. 2288 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-02
Subject: Misleading advertisement through Social Media
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Uday Pratap Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2288

TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.08.2023

## MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

## 2288.   SHRI UDAY PRATAP SINGH:

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

- (a)  whether the Government has got any study conducted of the ill effects of objectionable photo/  video/reels  and  misleading  advertisement  shown  continuously  through  social media apps like Facebook, YouTube etc. on internet and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether any concrete measures have been undertaken/are being taken to put a check on these crimes continuously appearing in the public space across social bandwidth and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether complaints have been received from the users with respect to objectionable live streaming of Adult Videos in the watch section of Facebook; and
- (d)   if so, the details of the complaints and resolution mechanism in place thereto?

## ANSWER

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

(a) and (b): The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an Open, Safe & Trusted and  Accountable  Internet  for  all  Digital  Nagriks.  The  Government  is  aware  of  increasing instances of objectionable, patently false, illegal and misleading content being made available on  various  social  media  intermediaries  including  Facebook,  You  Tube  etc.  The  Central Government  is  taking    all  steps  to  prevent    user  harm  related  to  the  publication  or transmission of obscene material in electronic form.

The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  penalises  publishing  or  transmission  of material  containing  sexually  explicit  act  in  electronic  form  (section  67A  and  67B)  and publishing  or  transmitting  of  obscene  material  in  electronic  form  (section  67),  and  makes them  punishable  with  imprisonment  for  a  period  that  may  extend  to  three  and  five  years respectively,  and  as  per  section  77B  such  cybercrimes  are  cognizable  offences.  As  per  the provisions  of  the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure,  1973,  prevention  and  investigation  of cognizable  offences  is  to  be  done  by  the  police,  and  as  per  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the Constitution,  'Police'  is  a  State  subject.  As  such,  States  are  primarily  responsible  for  the prevention,  investigation  etc.  of  such  cybercrimes  through  the  State  police  departments, which  take  preventive  and  penal  action  as  per  law,  including  in  respect  of  the  said cybercrimes pertaining to publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act or obscene material in electronic form.

The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  and  the Information  Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, together, has made a framework which put obligations on the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to observe due diligence and provide under Section 79 of IT Act that if they fail to observe such due diligence, they shall no longer be exempt from their liability under law  for  third-party  information  or  data  or  communication  link  hosted  by  them.  Such  due diligence includes the following:

- (i) To make reasonable efforts to cause the users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share, among others, information which is obscene,

or  paedophilic,  or  pornographic,  or  is  invasive  of  another's  bodily  privacy,  or  is harmful to child, or impersonates another person, or violates any law;

- (ii)  To provide, upon receipt of an order from a lawfully authorised government agency, information or assistance for prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution under law;

(c) and (d): As per the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, intermediary, including social media intermediary, shall  have in place  a  grievance  redressal  mechanism,  and  resolve  complaints  of  violation  of  the  rules within  72  hours  of  being  reported  and,  in  case  of  a  complaint  by  an  individual  or  her/his authorised representative, remove within 24 hours any content which prima facie exposes the private area of such individual, shows such individual in full or partial nudity or shows or depicts such individual in any sexual act or conduct, or is in the nature of impersonation in an electronic form, including artificially morphed images of such individual;

Further, in case an intermediary  is a significant social media  intermediary  (i.e., an intermediary having more than 50 lakh registered users in India), it shall additionally observe due diligence in terms of appointing a Chief Compliance Officer, a nodal contact person for 24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and a Resident Grievance Officer.

Keeping  in  view  complaints  regarding  action  or  inaction,  on  the  part  of  the  social  media intermediaries and other intermediaries on user grievances regarding objectionable content or suspension of their accounts, the  Central Government has also established three  Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs), as provided for in the said IT Rules, 2021 to enable users to appeal against the decisions taken by Grievance Officer of intermediaries on user complaints.

*******