Digital Rules: IT Ministry Asks Social Media Platforms for Compliance Status, Contact Details of Officers

MeitY has asked contact information of Chief Compliance Officer, Resident Grievance Officer, and Nodal Contact Person.

Digital Rules: IT Ministry Asks Social Media Platforms for Compliance Status, Contact Details of Officers

The new rules require social media platforms like WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence

Highlights
  • The ministry has sought details of the three key personnel
  • It has asked the platforms to report on their status of compliance
  • Companies losing their intermediary status in case of non-compliance
Advertisement

The government on Wednesday asked large social media platforms to immediately report their status of compliance with the new digital rules.

In a note to ''significant social media intermediaries'', the IT Ministry said the additional due diligence required from such large digital platforms has come into effect from Wednesday.

The ministry has sought details and contact information of Chief Compliance Officer, Resident Grievance Officer, and Nodal Contact Person who have been appointed by digital platforms under the new social media rules, as per the note seen by PTI.

"As you including your parent company or any other subsidiary, provide a variety of services in India some of which falls within the definition of SSMIs (significant social media intermediaries) in the context of the IT Act and the aforesaid Rules. Accordingly, as part of ascertaining the compliance to these Rules, you are requested to provide the following information...," the ministry said.

Apart from details such as name of the app, website, and service falling within the scope of significant social media intermediary, the ministry has sought details of the three key personnel, as well as the physical contact address of the platform in India.

It has asked the platforms to report on their status of compliance with the new rules.

"If you are not considered as SSMI, please provide the reasons for the same including the registered users on each of the services provided by you. The Government reserves the right to seek any additional information, as may be permitted within these Rules and the IT Act," it said.

The ministry has asked large social media companies to confirm and share their response at the earliest "and preferably today itself".

The new rules require large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer.

Non-compliance with rules would result in these social media companies losing their intermediary status that provides them exemptions and certain immunity from liabilities for any third-party information and data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.

The new rules require them to take down any content flagged by the authorities within 36 hours, and set up a robust mechanism to respond to complaints.

The new IT rules also require significant social media intermediaries - providing services primarily in the nature of messaging - to enable identification of the "first originator" of information that undermines sovereignty of India, security of the state, or public order.


It's Google I/O time this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, as we discuss Android 12, Wear OS, and more. Later (starting at 27:29), we jump over to Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder's Netflix zombie heist movie. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: WhatsApp, Facebook
Amazon Snaps Up James Bond-Owner MGM for $8.45 Billion as Streaming War Heats Up
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »