Digital Media Regulations – PIB
According to these regulations, intermediaries such as WebNews And Digital Media News Agencies have a specific duty to exercise in accordance with diligence, and if they don’t, they lose their legal immunity from liability for any third-party data, information, or communication links they host.
Included in this diligence are the following:
(i) To inform the said rules their users to make reasonable efforts to cause the users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share, among others, information, including information published by digital media on the intermediary platform or such information, shared on it by other users, which threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India or public order, or prevents investigation, or violates any law;
(ii) To not host, store or publish any information, including information published by digital media on the intermediary platform or such information shared on it by other users, which is unlawful, prohibited by law in relation to India’s sovereignty and integrity, security of the State, public order, contempt of court, etc., upon receiving actual knowledge in the form of an order by a court or being notified by the government under the provisions of the IT Act;
(iii) Upon receipt of an order from a lawfully authorized government agency, to provide information or assistance for prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution under the law, or for cyber security incidents;
(iv) To have in place a grievance redressal machinery, and resolve complaints of violation of the rules within 72 hours of being reported;
(v) In case an intermediary is a significant social media intermediary (i.e., an intermediary having more than 50 lakh registered users in India), to additionally observe diligence in terms of appointing a Chief Compliance Officer, a nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and a Resident Grievance Officer, publishing monthly compliance reports, etc.
No proposal to enact a separate law to regulate digital media is currently under consideration of the Government.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Earlier on 12th July 2021, Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary, Ministry of I&B, issued the new digital media ethics code aiming to address the complaints of the average person.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were created and issued by the Central Government in order to regulate intermediaries, including those in social media, and to further the goal of making the Internet open, safe, trusted, and accountable.
He was speaking at a webinar on the “Digital Media Ethics Code” that was put on by the Press Information Bureau of Maharashtra and Goa to help stakeholders better understand Part III of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which were announced by the Indian government in February of that year.
The goal of the “Digital Media Ethics Code” is to prevent the dissemination of material that is offensive to women or harmful to children. The existence of a regulatory body can limit and halt the dissemination of false information while also holding publishers accountable.
It is essentially a citizen-centric law, according to Joint Secretary Shri Vikram Sahay of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Why a Code of Ethics for Digital Media?
Shri Sahay emphasized the necessity of the “Digital Media Ethics Code“ in light of the explosion of digital content and provided a detailed explanation of the rationale and provisions of the “new IT Rules,” Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
According to Shri Sahay, “India is the world’s fastest growing OTT market, with the market expected to reach $2.9 billion by 2024, representing an annual growth of 28.6%.”
Fake News
- Shri Sahay noted that there has been a 41% increase in time spent on these news apps and that online news portals are the primary news source for Indians under the age of 35.
- There hasn’t been any such regulation for news on digital platforms when there are content regulators like Press Council of India for newspapers and Cable TV Network Act, 1995 for News on TV,” said Shri Sahay.
- Similar circumstances apply to OTTs, which are not governed by movie theatres or television. The Joint Secretary made it clear that the Digital Media Ethics Code’s main goal is to prevent the transmission of material that is offensive to women or harmful to children.
An interdepartmental committee will handle unresolved complaints from news publishers or regulatory bodies, according to Shri Sahay.
He described the three-tier regulatory structure, in which the Ministry of I&B, Self-Regulatory Bodies, and Publishers are all involved in the regulation of content.
Additionally, he stated that news publishers and OTT platforms would be required to name a grievance officer and post information about these complaints. “Publisher and self-regulatory body disclosure of information regarding grievance redressal in the public domain must be done,” he continued.
Additionally, the Ministry of I&B will compile fundamental data in a format specified by the stakeholders about those who work for news portals or OTT platforms.
The ministry has already received information from more than 1800 publishers of digital media, the majority of whom have done so voluntarily, he said.
He discussed the state of international policy and how various nations have been adjusting to the changes.
