MeitY proposes amendments to Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Rules; aims to make intermediaries accountable and respect rights guaranteed to users under the Constitution of India

While intermediaries may additionally create their own community standards as per their business policies, the proposed amendment to the IT Rules 2021 specifically require them to enforce the rule 3(1)(b) in the larger interest of the safety and trust while also making the intermediaries accountable. This will ensure actual enforcement of the requirements in the IT Rules 2021 in letter and spirit.

(a) the intermediary shall prominently publish on its website, mobile based application or both, as the case may be, the rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement for access or usage of its computer resource by any person and ensure compliance of the same.;

(b) the intermediary shall inform the rules and regulations, privacy policy or user agreement of the intermediary to the user and shall cause the user of its computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that,—

The proposed rule 3(1)(m) and 3(1)n) require intermediaries to respect the rights guaranteed to users under the Constitution of India. This has been made necessary because a number of Intermediaries have acted in violation of constitutional rights of Indian citizens and keeping in mind that Government is the guarantor of such rights of all our citizens.

(……)

(m) the intermediary shall take all reasonable measures to ensure accessibility of its services to users along with reasonable expectation of due diligence, privacy and transparency;

(n) the intermediary shall respect the rights accorded to the citizens under the Constitution of India.

It is proposed to add two provisos under rule 3(2) of the IT Rules 2021- a. The first proviso will require any complaint for removal of any content under rule 3(1)(b) to be addressed within 72 hours of the receipt of the user’s complaint, because of the very nature of cyber space providing instant communication, outreach and virality. Any other grievance will continue to be addressed within 15 days. This will help to ensure that problematic content is removed expeditiously and does not become viral over a sustained period of time. b. The second proviso allows intermediaries to implement any safeguards to prevent any misuse of the grievance redressal mechanism by users. For example, where a user submits any inappropriate, trivial or inauthentic complaint, the intermediary may exercise due diligence to prevent such misuse.

(a)The intermediary shall prominently publish on its website, mobile based application or both as the case may be, the name of the Grievance Officer and his contact details as well as mechanism by which a user or a victim may make complaint against violation of the provisions of this rule or any other matters pertaining to the computer resources made available by it, and the Grievance Officer shall –

(i)            acknowledge the complaint, including suspension, removal or blocking of any user or user account or any complaint from its users. in the nature of request for removal of information or communication link relating to sub-clauses (i) to (x) of the clause (b) under sub-rule (1) of rule 3, within twenty four hours and dispose of such complaint within a period of fifteen days from the date of its receipt;

Provided that the complaint in the nature of request for removal of information or communication link relating to sub-clauses (i) to (x) of the clause (b) under sub-rule (1) of rule 3, shall be acted upon expeditiously and redressed within 72 hours of reporting:

Provided further that appropriate safeguards may be developed by the intermediary to avoid any misuse by users.

It is proposed to create an appellate body called ‘Grievance Appellate Committee’ under rule 3(3) of the IT Rules 2021 by invoking section 79 of the IT Act having regard to additional guidelines as may be prescribed by the Central Government. Users will have the option to appeal against the grievance redressal process of the intermediaries before this new appellate body. The Committee will endeavor to address the user’s appeal within a period of 30 days. This is made necessary because currently there is no appellate mechanism provided by intermediaries nor is there any credible self-regulatory mechanism in place.

(a) The Central Government shall constitute one or more Grievance Appellate Committees, which shall consist of a Chairperson and such other Members, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint;

(b) Any person aggrieved by an order made by the Grievance Officer under clause (a) and clause (b) of sub-rule (2) of rule 3 may prefer an appeal to the Grievance Appellate committee having jurisdiction in the matter within a period of 30 days of receipt of communication from the Grievance Officer;

(c) The Grievance Appellate Committee shall deal with such appeal expeditiously and shall make an endeavour to dispose of the appeal finally within 30 calendar days from the date of receipt of the appeal;

(d) Every order passed by the Grievance Appellate Committee shall be complied by the concerned Intermediary.