The Government of India has announced a new code of ethics under the Information Technology Act, 2000, to curb misuse of content, called the ‘Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021, which would be applicable to social media companies, over-the-top (OTT) platforms and digital content platform

The Rules has categorised intermediaries as Social media intermediary and Significant social media intermediary based on number of users.

Key points from the Guidelines:

A ‘Three level Grievance redressal mechanism’ will be established with different levels of self-regulation.
Level I: Self-regulation by the publisher,
Level II: Self-regulation by the self-regulatory body and,
Level III: Oversight mechanism under the Ministry of Information and broadcasting.

Digital intermediaries, including social media companies, must conduct appropriate due diligence. If it is found that due diligence has not been followed by any intermediary, safe harbour provisions will no longer apply to it.

The Social media companies needs to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from the users or victims. They must appoint a Grievance officer, who must be resident in India and shall register complaints in 24 hrs and resolve it within fifteen days from its receipt.

If there is a complaint about the dignity of the user, especially a woman (exposed private parts, nudity or sexual activity, spoofing, etc.), the Significant social media companies must remove it within 24 hours of the complaint being made.

Upon being asked either by the court or by the government, social media companies will be required to disclose the originator of the mischievous tweet/ message.

The social media companies must have a provision for voluntary verification of users, through which users who wish to voluntarily verify their accounts may do so.

Significant social media companies are required to publish a monthly compliance report on the number of grievances filed, and how they were redressed.

Significant social media companies have to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer and have a Nodal Contact person who can be in touch with law enforcement agencies 24/7.

For OTT platforms (like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video) ,

They would have to classify all content suitable for viewing by age – U (Universal), U/A 7+ (years), U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult). Publishers will have to prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or program together with a content descriptor informing the user about the nature of the content

They would be also be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age-verification mechanisms for content classified as ‘A’.

There will be a grievance redressal system in OTT platforms and digital portals. The OTT platforms will have a self-regulating body, headed by retired Supreme Court or High Court judge or an eminent person.