'New IT rules will prevent misuse of social media'

New Delhi IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said WhatsApp users have nothing to fear about new social media rules that are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal. Prasad said that the government welcomes criticism including the right to ask questions. "The rules only empower the ordinary users of social media when they become victims of abuse and misuse," Prasad posted on home-grown micro-blogging platform Koo, and also tweeted.

The government fully recognises and respects the right of privacy, he asserted. "Ordinary users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear about the new rules. Its entire objective is to find out who started the message that led to commissioning of specific crimes mentioned in the rules," Prasad added. The new IT rules require the social media companies to set up an India-based grievance redressal officer, compliance officer and nodal officer "so that millions of users of social media who have a grievance get a forum for its redressal", he said.

The obligation to reveal the originator of an offensive message already in circulation relates only to offences relating to sovereignty, integrity and security of India, public order, rape, and child sexual abuse. "That too when other less intrusive measures are not effective," the Minister said. The government on Wednesday had strongly defended its new digital rules, saying the requirement of messaging platforms like WhatsApp to disclose origin of flagged messages does not violate privacy, and went on to seek a compliance report from large social media firms.

The new rules, announced on February 25, require large social media platforms defined as those with over 50 lakh users in the country to follow additional due diligence, including appointment of chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer. The new, tighter regulations for social media firms requires them to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and setting up a strong complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in the country.

Significant social media companies will have to publish a monthly compliance report disclosing details of complaints received and action taken, as well as details of contents removed proactively. They will also be required to have a physical contact address in India published on its website or mobile app, or both. Under the rules that would make digital giants more accountable for the content hosted on their platform, companies will have to take down posts depicting nudity or morphed photos within 24 hours of receiving a complaint. Non-compliance with new IT rules would result in these platforms losing their intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints. Twitter, in a statement on Thursday, has expressed concern over "use of intimidation tactics by the police" after the microblogging platform gave a manipulated media tag to tweets by a BJP leader.