{"id":213716,"date":"2022-11-09T19:51:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T14:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=213716"},"modified":"2022-11-09T19:51:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T14:21:58","slug":"content-moderation-through-co-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/content-moderation-through-co-regulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Content moderation through co-regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article\u00a0\u201cContent moderation through co-regulation\u201d <\/strong>published in The Hindu<\/strong>\u00a0on\u00a09th<\/sup> November 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: GS 2- Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>need for co-regulation intermediary law<\/strong><\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> The article discusses the amendment made in the IT Rules, 2021 and the need for the co-regulatory intermediary law.<\/p>\n

What does Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 mandate and what is the recent amendment made?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

IT Rules, 2021 mandate platforms to establish a grievance redressal mechanism<\/strong> to resolve user complaints within fixed timelines.<\/p>\n

The government recently amended the rules and established Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs).<\/strong> This will act as appeals over the platforms\u2019 grievance redressal decisions.<\/p>\n

This shows that the government has tightened the rules for online speech resembling Section 69A of the IT Act.<\/p>\n

Section 69A of the IT Act<\/strong> provides the government with the power to issue directions for blocking public access to any information through any computer resource.<\/p>\n

However, it will be difficult for the government to control the online speech as users have increased along with the increase in illegal and harmful content. Therefore, there is a need for the intermediary law<\/strong> that works on co-regulation.<\/p>\n

What is an intermediary law and what kind of intermediary law is needed?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

An intermediary law is where the government orders intermediaries to remove the content that does not comply with the law.<\/p>\n

There is need for an intermediary law that empowers online platform for the moderation of the social media content under broad government guidelines. For example,<\/strong> the Digital Services Act (DSA) of the European Union (EU).<\/p>\n

Therefore, coming up with co-regulatory intermediary law is important.<\/p>\n

What purpose can be served by co-regulatory intermediary law?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

First,<\/strong> it will help platforms to retain some amount of autonomy <\/strong>over their terms of service.<\/p>\n