Draft rules to regulate social media ready: Government

News:Government has said that the Draft Information Technology Rules,2018 which mandate social media companies to cooperate with the police in cracking cyber crimes has been completed.

Facts:

Draft Information Technology [Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018:

• The aim of the draft rules is to make social media and internet companies, that have over 50 lakh users more accountable for the content on their platforms.
• The rules says that online intermediaries with more than 50 lakh users will be required to have a registered entity in India under the Companies Act.
• The online intermediaries should also appoint in India, a nodal person of contact for 24X7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and ensure compliance with their orders.
• They should provide information or assistance within 72 hours when asked by any government agency for reasons of State security, cyber security, investigation, detection, prosecution or prevention of offenses.
• The social media intermediaries should publish rules, privacy policy to stop users from engaging in online material which is paedophilic, pornographic, hateful, racially and ethnically objectionable.
• The intermediary should deploy technology based automated tools for identifying and removing or disabling public access to unlawful information or contents.
• The intermediary should report cybersecurity incidents with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.
• On their website,the intermediary should also publish the name of the Grievance Officer and his contact details and the mechanism by which users or any victim who suffers can notify their complaints against such usage.

Additional information:

Internet intermediary:

• Internet intermediary refers to a company that facilitates the use of the Internet.
• Such companies include internet service providers(ISPs), search engines and social media platforms.