Will giant social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, among a few others get banned in India? Several media portal reports purported so in the last 24 hours, nevertheless, these are all claims with just presumptions.
To dispel all hoax news about few social media networks ban surfacing on the internet, here’s a quick run through about what the new IT rules state and why “significant social media” platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, among others are said to be banned in India.
To the unversed, On February 25, the Indian government declared a new set of IT rules to be followed by all social media platforms functioning in the country. The government had announced that social media platforms will need to be in adherence with the new IT rules by May 25. And today i.e on May 26, the new IT rules and guidelines have come into effect. Hence the hoax news was spread by few people even before any official confirmation.
With respect to the IT rules, big tech companies, the government ordains that the “significant social media”, should have a chief compliance officer in India who can swiftly respond to government demands as and when required. The administration has compelled these social media platforms to hire a nodal officer, who will coordinate with law enforcement agencies and a grievance redressal officer, who will aid social media users with their grievances.
Non compliance of these firms to the new IT rules can allow the government to take stringent action against the big social media platform, but, it doesn’t really mean much to the end users.
Government asked Whatsapp to ensure whether they can trace a message to the original sender. It simply means breaking the end-to-end encryption on messages, which is extremely challenging for messaging tools like WhatsApp as it introduced a new privacy policy lately. Whatsapp founder seem to be reluctant to this new rule.
Facebook on Tuesday said in an official statement, “we aim to comply with the provisions of the IT rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government.”
Also the clauses in the IT Act especially sub section of section 79 basically provides protection to social media companies and streaming services by making them “intermediaries”, which means they are in no way responsible for user content.
It definitely takes quite some time to settle this issue by such platforms with government as it is disputable. These companies however could sort out amicably and possibly could request for less stricter IT rules.
So, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp or any other platform that have still not come in accordance with the new IT rules and guidelines will continue to work in the country.