Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has in an Advisory addressed to all intermediaries directed them to comply with the provisions outlined in the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (“IT Rules”). This directive comes in light of growing concerns regarding the spread of misinformation, especially through AI-generated deepfakes.
Key Highlights:
- Intermediaries must communicate to the user of its computer resource regarding prohibited content clearly and precisely through terms of service and user agreement. Information related to the 11 listed user harms or content prohibited on digital intermediaries which shall not be hosted, displayed, uploaded, modified, published, transmitted, stored, updated or shared by the user as specified under Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules must be expressly informed to the user at the time of first-registration and also as regular reminders, in particular, at every instance of login and while uploading/sharing information onto the platform;
- Users must be made aware of the various penal provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, the IT Act, 2000 and such other laws that may be attracted in case of violation of Rule 3(1)(b) (hosting, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, transmitting, storing, updating or sharing of information related to the 11 listed user harms or content prohibited on digital intermediaries);
- The terms of service and user agreements must clearly highlight that intermediaries/platforms are under obligation to report legal violations to the law enforcement agencies under the relevant Indian laws applicable to the context;
- Intermediaries are mandated to communicate rules, regulations, privacy policy, and user agreement in the user’s preferred language;
- Intermediaries are obliged to ensure that reasonable efforts are undertaken to prevent users from hosting, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, transmitting, storing, updating, or sharing any information related to the 11 listed user harms or content prohibited on digital intermediaries;
- Emphasizing the obligation to prohibit dissemination of misinformation as provided under Rule 3(1)(b)(v) of the Rules, it has been reiterated that all intermediaries were asked to exercise due diligence in promptly removing such content related to misinformation on their platforms.
The press release issued by MeitY in this regard is linked below for ease of reference.
Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
