Govt announces new guidelines for social media, digital and OTT platforms; Read here

New Delhi: With the advancement of science, new technologies have provided an opportunity for the exponential expansion of print media as well as digital media. In this OTT platform and digital news, portals are now established and are working well. The problem was that for these new sectors there was no institutional mechanism. When the Press has the PCI and TV has its own self-regulation and films have CBFC, these new platforms had no such arrangement

There was a demand from all sectors including these two platforms that there must be some arrangement by which a level playing field can be provided to all the media categories. Thus, under the Information Technology Act, 2000 certain rules are being formulated to provide this institutional mechanism for level playing field.

Social media platforms on being asked either by court or govt authority will be required to disclose 1st originator of mischievous tweet or message. This should be in relation to sovereignty of India, security of state, relations with foreign states, rape etc: Union Min RS Prasad pic.twitter.com/tU1GhO3ueN

— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2021

There was a demand for bringing such parity and mechanism by people at large as well as experts and media, filmmakers, industry experts, trade organizations/bodies, etc. These apart, there have been serious grievance from parents and guardians over the adult, violent and such other content which is harmful to children. There is also a need to empower the citizens for their grievance redressal. Due to absence of an institutional set up, citizens do not know where to send their grievances or file complaints or suggestions relating to content on OTT or on digital news.

There have been several cases in the Supreme Court and various High Courts on this subject, and in a recent PIL hearing, the Supreme Court has observed that the Government should decide the matter urgently.

Ministry of I&B has held wide-ranging consultations. The Government has also studied the regulatory models in other countries, including Singapore, Australia, EU and UK, and has gathered that most of them either have an institutional mechanism to regulate digital content or are in the process of setting one.

Main features of the Rules

The rules establish a soft touch progressive institutional mechanism with a level playing field featuring a Code of Ethics and a three-tier grievance redressal framework for news publishers and OTT platforms on the digital media. The OTT platforms would self-classify the content into five age-based categories- U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult). Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.

Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation) Act thereby providing a level playing field between the offline (Print, TV) and digital media.

Grievance redressal mechanism

A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established under the rules with two levels of self-regulation- Level I being the publisher and Level II being the Self Regulatory Body, and the third level being the Oversight Mechanism under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

The rules provide for an effective grievance redressal mechanism for receiving, processing, and time-bound disposal of public grievances related to the Code of Ethics. The self-regulatory body would be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court, or by a person of eminence from the relevant field, and can issue advisories to the publisher.

The mechanism is based on the principles of minimum Government intervention; however platforms should develop a robust grievance redressal mechansim on their own.

Benefits of the Rules

The institutional mechanism would :

(i) encourage growth in the Champion Audio-Visual Services Sector

(ii) empower citizens to make informed choices about content, get their grievances redressed indefinite time frames, and protect children

(iii) help to fight fake news on digital media through a mechanism of accountability of the publishers.