Lok Sabha Question No. 3323 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-09
Subject: Access of Mature Contents by Minors
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Raja Amareshwara Naik, Sukanta Majumdar, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3323

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.08.2023

## ACCESS OF MATURE CONTENTS BY MINORS

## 3323.   SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK: DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR: SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA):

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that despite the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, a vast number of minors continue to access content and contract on websites meant for mature audiences;
- (b)   if so, the details thereof along with the Government's reaction thereto;
- (c)    whether  the  present  legislative  framework  does  not  effectively  provide  for  methods  to determine the age demography of users and thus a new and improvised mechanism must be created and recommended;
- (d)   if so, the details thereof along with the Government's reaction thereto; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  is  in  the  process  of issuing guidelines to address the aforementioned  issues,  directing  websites  to  undertake  stricter  methods  to  protect  and limit involvement of minors and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (e):    The  policies  of  the  Government  are  aimed  at  ensuring  a  Safe  and  Trusted  and Accountable  Internet  for  all  its  users.  Publication  or  transmission  of  obscene  material  in electronic  form,  is  cybercrime.  The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  and  the Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and  Digital  Media  Ethics  Code)  Rules, 2021 ('IT Rules, 2021'), provides for penalty and punishment for such act and also casts an obligations  on  the  intermediaries,  including  social  media  intermediaries,  to  observe  due diligence as per rule 3(1)(b). In case of failure to follow diligence as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, by intermediaries, they shall lose their safe harbour protection under section 79 of the IT Act and shall be liable for consequential action as provided in such law.

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  ('IT  Rules,  2021'), together,  have  made  a  framework  which  cast  obligations  on  the  intermediaries,  including social media intermediaries, to observe due diligence and provide that if they fail to observe such due diligence, they shall no longer be exempt from their liability under law for thirdparty 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, information which is harmful to child, or obscene, or invasive of another's bodily privacy, or violates any law;
- (ii) On  a  voluntary  basis  on  violation  of  the  above,  and  on  actual  knowledge  upon receipt of a grievance or court order or notice from the appropriate government or its agency, to not host, store or publish unlawful information prohibited under law for  the  time  being  in  force  in  relation  to  the  interest  of  decency  or  morality  or defamation;
- (iii) Upon receipt of an order from a lawfully authorised government agency, to provide information  or  assistance  for  prevention,  detection,  investigation  or  prosecution under law in a time bound manner within 72 hours;
- (iv) To  have  in  place  a  grievance  redressal  machinery,  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; further, the rules have been amended on 28.10.2022 to provide for the establishment of one or more Grievance Appellate Committee(s) to allow users to appeal against decisions taken by Grievance Officers on such complaints;
- (v) In  case  an  intermediary  is  a  significant  social  media  intermediary  (i.e.,  an intermediary having more than 50 lakh registered users in  India), to 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, and to endeavour to deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools or other mechanisms, to proactively identify information that depicts any act or simulation in any form depicting child sexual abuse or conduct.
- (vi) In  case  a  significant  social  media  intermediary is  providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information  on  its  computer  resource  for  the  purposes  of  prevention,  detection, investigation,  prosecution  or  punishment  of  an  offence  related  to  rape,  sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material.

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. In addition, under the Code of Ethics prescribed in the Part III of IT Rules, 2021, publishers of  an  online  content  curator  are  required  to  classify  all  content  transmitted  or  published or exhibited by them, based on the nature and type of content, into various rating categories, including content suitable for children, content suitable for persons aged 7 years or 13 years or 16 years and above or persons under the said ages with parental guidance, and to display such classification. They are further required to restrict access to certain curated content by a child through implementation of appropriate access control measures.

******