Indian Govt vs Social Media: Timeline Of Events That Decide Your Online Privacy
As per the letter, MeitY has stated that the additional due diligence required from the social media intermediaries have come into effect today.
Today morning, most of us were surprised to learn that WhatsApp had filed a suit against the Indian government on the grounds that the new intermediary rules laid out by MeitY would end user privacy on its platform.
Reuters
Also Read: WhatsApp Sues Indian Govt, Claims New Intermediary Rules Would End User Privacy
In response, MeitY has now stated that it doesn¡¯t intend to do so, ¡°Government of India respects the Right of Privacy and has no intention to violate it when WhatsApp is required to disclose the origin of a particular message.¡±
Government of India respects the Right of Privacy and has no intention to violate it when WhatsApp is required to disclose the origin of a particular message: Ministry of Electronics and IT pic.twitter.com/9CW8IFr7j3
¡ª ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
MeitY highlights that these requirements only would come in place when the message in question would concern ¡°prevention, investigation or punishment of serious offences such as sexually explicit content.¡±
MeitY taking a jab at WhatsApp¡¯s user-privacy claims
In these statements, MeitY also took a jab at WhatsApp and its new privacy policy on how one one end they use user data and send it to its parent company and on the other make suck claims, ¡°At one end, WhatsApp seeks to mandate a privacy policy wherein it will share data of all its user with its parent company, Facebook.¡±
Any operations being run in India are subject to the law of the land. WhatsApp¡¯s refusal to comply with the guidelines is a clear act of defiance of a measure whose intent can certainly not be doubted: MeitY
¡ª ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
¡°On other hand, WhatsApp makes every effort to refuse enactment of Intermediary Guidelines necessary to uphold law & order & curb fake news. Any operations being run in India are subject to the law of the land. WhatsApp¡¯s refusal to comply with the guidelines is a clear act of defiance of a measure whose intent can certainly not be doubted.¡±
Also Read: India Could Block Facebook, Twitter, Instagram From May 26: Here's Why
MeitY further added, ¡°As a significant social media intermediary, WhatsApp seeks safe harbour protection as per provisions of the IT Act. However, in a befuddling act, they seek to avoid responsibility and refuse to enact the very steps which permit them a safe harbour provision.¡±
When did all this begin?
In case you were wondering how the hell did the nation flip to such an extent that went on to endanger the existence of social media platforms in just a day, you¡¯d be surprised to know that this all started three months ago in February.
On February 25, MeitY laid out a set of new guidelines for OTT and social media platforms to ensure control of what was being shared on these digital platforms.
Reuters
The rules make it compulsory for platforms to allow traceability of the originator of messages, along with a provision for voluntary verification as a means to establish user identity.
The guidelines asked for the setup of an oversight mechanism that would include a committee with representatives from ministries of defence, External Affairs, Home, Information and Broadcasting, Law, IT and Women & Child Development.
Also Read: Twitter Tags Sambit Patra¡¯s Tweet As Manipulated Media, MeitY Wants Tag Removed
These new guidelines also included appointing compliance officers, a resident grievance officer, a chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person who would overlook the complaints regarding the content on these platforms, monitor and even remove the content, should it deem objectionable.
Platforms that fell under the purview of these new guidelines are those with fixed 5 million users registered users, giving them the status of social media intermediaries. Platforms had to comply with the new guidelines within a three-month period, which ended yesterday. Failure to compliance would strip the platform of their intermediary status and subject them to legal action.
Also Read: Indian Govt Sets New Rules For Online Video Services And Social Media
AP
What about the privacy of users?
MeitY stated that even though privacy of the users is of importance and it is one of our fundamental rights, it¡¯s not an absolute one, ¡°WhatsApp¡¯s attempt to portray Intermediary Guidelines of India as contrary to Right to privacy is misguided. Contrarily in India, privacy is a fundamental right subject to reasonable restrictions."
"Rule 4(2) (to trace first originator) is an example of such a restriction.¡±
WhatsApp¡¯s attempt to portray Intermediary Guidelines of India as contrary to Right to privacy is misguided. Contrarily in India, privacy is a fundamental right subject to reasonable restrictions. Rule 4(2) (to trace first originator) is example of such a restriction: MeitY
¡ª ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
In case you were confused about what this meant, it states that even though you have a fundamental right to privacy, that right can be squashed under reasonable restrictions, such as those being mentioned by MeitY to trace the origin of the sender of the message.
So what now?
According to a letter shared by Medianama¡¯s Nikhil Pahwa, MeitY is asking social media platforms about their compliance status with the aforementioned IT Rules 2021.
Breaking news: the Indian government has sent this letter to social media platforms, asking them about compliance with IT Rules 2021, @GoI_MeitY has confirmed to @medianama .
¡ª Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) May 26, 2021
Rule 7 states that significant social media platforms lose intermediary status if they are non compliant pic.twitter.com/cHmTMPaqBE
As per the letter, MeitY has stated that the additional due diligence required from the social media intermediaries have come into effect today. It specified that this has come at the conclusion of the three additional months given to the social media intermediaries.
Pahwa¡¯s Tweet also states that Rule 7 of the act states that failure of compliance would result in the platforms losing their intermediary status, in which case social media platforms will be liable for content that violates Indian law and may face stricter judicial scrutiny in the future.
What do you think about all of this, especially about the right to privacy when it comes to online communication? Let us know in the comments below...