MeitY reminds social media platforms to publish periodic IT Rules compliance report

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The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on September 13 reminded social media platforms to publish monthly compliance reports under the Information Technology Rules 2021, sources said.

In an advisory, the IT ministry has directed social media platforms to ensure the due diligence obligations provided under Rule 4 of the IT Rules 2021. Moneycontrol has reviewed the advisory.

Particularly, the ministry reminded platforms to publish periodic compliance every month mentioning the details of complaints received, actions taken, number of content removed or blocked as a result of automated monitoring.

Under Rule 4 of the IT Rules, social media platforms are directed to appoint a grievance officer to address user complaints, and compliance officers, deploy automated tools for content moderation and publish monthly compliance reports.

The ministry has asked platforms to submit a report before the 10th of every month.

Previously on September 3, the IT ministry advised all intermediaries to take down illegal content, a report by the Hindustan Times said.

The advisory came weeks after the Bombay High Court ordered Meta and Telegram to delete all fake content related to the National Stock Exchange.

In December 2023, the government, in the context of combating deepfakes, issued an advisory to all intermediaries, reminding them to comply with existing IT rules.

The advisory had mandated that intermediaries communicate to users, the content that is prohibited under Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules.

Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT rules mandates platforms to communicate their rules, regulations, privacy policy, and user agreement in the user’s preferred language.

They must also ensure “reasonable efforts” to prevent users from hosting any information that may fall under the 11 listed user harms in the IT Rules.

More recently, on March 1, the government issued an advisory directing companies to obtain the government's permission before developing new AI models. After a huge outcry, the government reneged on this advisory.