India Plans New Social Media Regulations to Remove Controversial Content

HI FRIENDS,

India plans to oblige social media companies to erase contentious content fast and assist investigations, according to a draft regulation.

Facebook faced a global criticism from publishers and politicians last week after blocking news feeds in Australia in a dispute with the government over revenue-sharing.

In India, Twitter ignored orders to remove content over farmers’ protests.

The latest draft rules say companies should remove content as early as possible, but not later than 36 hours, after a government or legal order.

They must also assist in investigations or other cyber security-related incidents within 72 hours of a request.

If a post depicts an individual in any sexual act or conduct, then companies must disable or remove such content within a day of receiving a complaint, the rules added.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter, which did not take down all accounts the government alleged were spreading lies about the protests over agricultural reforms, decline to comment.

Points in Draft

• The draft proposal also requires companies to appoint a chief compliance officer, another executive for coordinating on law enforcement and a “grievance redressal officer”.
• All must be resident Indian citizens.
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• It was unclear when the rules would be announce of if they may undergo further changes.
• The rules would also apply across other digital and online media.
• A publisher shall take into consideration India’s multi-racial and multi-religious context and exercise due caution and discretion when featuring the activities, beliefs, practices, or views of any racial or religious group.

Referring to films and other entertainment, including Web-based serials, the draft rules called for a “classification rating” to describe content and advise discretion.

Streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have faced complaints in India for obscenity.

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