Our Social Media Rules Mustn’t Gag Free

Context: Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 grants Centre Government an oversized role and could be misused to stifle dissent.

Background:

• The Cause: World's open forums are so widely sprawled out on the web that their content could distort democracy and threaten liberty.
• The Conflict: What goes online does need restraints. The perplexity is how this is best done—internal filters by Facebook, Twitter, etc. or State supervision.
• The Choice: Central government rolled out new rules under the IT Act, bringing in regulation with a wider scope of state supervision.

Positive provisions of the rules:

• Age gates instead of censorships: Under the rules, films and serials streamed across the internet will have age-gates rather than censor snips
• Brings in accountability: Every app with a big user base must put in place a mechanism for grievance redressal, keep the state in the loop, and take stuff off the web within specified time.
• The Cause: World's open forums are so widely sprawled out on the web that their content could distort democracy and threaten liberty.

Concerning the rules:

• Lack of independence: Online news platforms must deploy gag orders under a triple-tier system of oversight, with a "self-regulatory" body that will operate under a government panel.
• Invasive surveillance:
  • Social media firms must reveal within 72 hours the "originator" of an unlawful message.
  • If platforms fail to comply with such demands, they risk losing their "safe harbour" shield against prosecution over the content.
  • If platforms fail to comply, they risk losing the "safe harbour" shield against prosecution.
  • Origin-tracing could upend the promise of end-to-end encryption casting user's privacy in doubt.
• Narrowing scope for dissent: Barred list includes a threat to public order, sovereignty and integrity, offences of decency and morality, all could be twisted out of context to stifle legitimate dissent.
• Missing parliamentary scrutiny: Imposed under provisions of the IT Act, overstretching coverage of the law to all online expressions.