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OTT & Digital Media - Government Of India notifies new Rules and Regulations on 25 Feb 2021
- By Elite CIO
Feb 26, 2021
11
OTT & Digital Media - Government Of India notifies new Rules and Regulations
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) has announced its draft Information Technology(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, for social media platforms, OTT players & digital media Thursday, with significant recommendations including asking social media companies to give out the originator of a message or tweet as the case may be.
Government Of India notified new rules and regulations governing the digital media and OTT industry to ensure greater compliance with local laws, in a move expected to significantly alter the way social media companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter as well as popular streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime operate in the country.
The notification also expanded the definition of digital media by mandating news portals to follow similar norms that govern traditional media publishers, such as newspapers and television news channels.
By notifying The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, under the Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, India has probably taken the toughest stand on regulation of social media and over the top (OTT) platforms in the world.
Social media platforms have been mandated to take down flagged posts within 36 hours of receiving a notice while encrypted messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram have been directed to trace the originator of contentious messages. They have to also introduce a mechanism for voluntary verification of identity of users as a means to curb fake and anonymous posts on social media. Companies will also have to set up automated tools to weed out certain kinds of messages and delete messages upon requests from users within 24 hours if the context is sexual in nature.