Trouble mounts for Facebook, Twitter as deadline looms to comply with social media norms

The Florida bill makes it illegal to bar a candidate for state office for more than 14 days, in a move that would seem to outlaw the kind of permanent ban the social media platforms applied to Trump's accounts. (Representational image)

The government will seek reports from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to check if they have complied with the new Intermediary Guidelines, according to government sources. The deadline to meet these guidelines, which includes creating systems to deal with grievances by users and monitoring harmful content, ends on May 25 and failure to comply will be dealt strictly, they said.

Indian firm Koo apart, none of the other major social media platforms (with over 50 lakh users) has complied with the new IT rules, they said, asking not to be named.

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules), 2021 was notified on February 25, and the large social media companies, which are classified by the government as ‘intermediaries’, had three months to comply with the new rules.

These rules come into effect on May 26, 2021, and if social media companies do not obey, they may lose their status and protections as intermediaries and may become liable for criminal action based on the laws of the land, said one person familiar with the matter.

"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. Pursuant to the IT Rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies. Facebook remains committed to people's ability to freely and safely express themselves on our platform." - A Facebook Spokesperson.

Twitter did not comment for the story.

New IT rules

The new rules insisted on these platforms appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person. They also mandated major social media intermediaries (with over 50 lakh users) to have a physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile application or both.

Swift grievance redressal mechanism within 15 days, and active monitoring of harmful content using automated tools, and removal/disabling access to disturbing content were also part of the mandate. They were also required to publish a monthly compliance report on the same on a monthly basis.

No compliance yet 

“The point to note is that why appointment of three persons namely Resident Grievance Officer, the Chief Compliance Officer and Nodal Contact Person should take more than three months? People who are victims of social media have suffered because of the abuse practically because they do not know whom to approach in social media in absence of any public information. These platforms are to furnish monthly reports as to how many grievances were filed and settled,” another person cited above said.

“Some of these platforms sought more time up to six months for furnishing compliance,” this person added.

There has been criticism too, especially with respect to breaking encryption for messaging services like WhatsApp. “A significant social media intermediary providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information…as may be required by a judicial order passed by a court of competent jurisdiction…” the rule reads.

This would mean that the likes of WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram will have to make provisions to comply with the new rules and for some that would mean compromising the end-to-end (E2E) encryption, and also concerns around privacy.

Without the implementation of the personal data protection bill, experts had said that there will be no checks and balances. While the rules have addressed key issues, there is no denying that they give the government more control over how they use the data of citizens without policy safeguards, they added.