News Analysis India

Tag: New IT rules

  • Parliamentary panel instructs Facebook and Google to follow new I-T rules

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary standing committee on Information and Technology on Tuesday asked Google and Facebook to follow the Indian laws, while telling their representatives that the security of citizens is priority.

    After summoning the representatives of Twitter, the committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called Facebook and Google for a session, which turned out to be a briefing meeting, with the members patiently hearing the technological aspects of the two tech giants.

    The panel secretariat will also be writing to Twitter for explanations about the basis on which the accounts of Tharoor and Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were suspended. Prasad’s account was suspended for an hour purportedly on account of the copyright violations.

    “Google gave statistical report about actions taken against contents which violate its policies, including removing and deleting videos and comments on its YouTube platform,” sources said. The panel told the two social media giants they have to conform to Indian rules. The panel grilled the representatives of the two about “end to end encryption and origin of contents”.

    “Unlike the previous meeting with the Twitter representative, which was much heated, Tuesday’s session was more focused, with the members showing interests in understanding the technical aspects,” sources added.

  • ‘Don’t lecture India on freedom of speech, democracy’: Ravi Shankar Prasad to social media firms

    By PTI
    PUNE: Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday asked social media platforms to not lecture India on “freedom of speech” and “democracy”, and asserted that if these “profit-making” firms want to earn money in India, they will have to follow the “Indian Constitution and Indian laws”.

    Addressing a lecture on the topic ‘Social Media & Social Security’ and ‘Criminal Justice System Reforms: An Unfinished Agenda’ organized by Symbiosis International University as part of the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series, the minister said the new IT guidelines do not deal with the use of social media, but with the “abuse” and “misuse” of social media platforms.

    The new IT rules, which were originally announced in February, give users of the platform a forum for redressal for their grievances, Prasad said, adding that they are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making likes of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing of details on the originators of messages.

    ALSO READ | Rule of land is supreme, not your policy, Twitter told by Parliamentary panel on IT

    “The new rules require social media companies to set up an India-based grievance redressal officer, compliance officer, and the nodal officer so that millions of social media users get a forum for grievance redressal,” Prasad said, adding that no one was “asking for the moon” by getting firms to appoint three officers based in the country for this purpose.

    “These are basic requirements. Let me reiterate emphatically that India does not need a lecture on freedom of speech and democracy from a profit-making company that stays in America. India has free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, media, civil society. Here I am talking to students and taking questions, and this is true democracy. So these profit-making companies should not lecture us on democracy,” he said.

    “When Indian companies go to do business in America, do they not follow American laws? You earn good money, good profits as India is a digital market, there is no problem. Criticize the prime minister, criticize me, ask tough questions, but why would you not obey Indian laws? If you want to do business in India, you have to follow India’s Constitution and India’s laws,” the minister, who also holds the law and justice portfolio, emphasised.

    Prasad said these firms got three months to comply with the new IT rules, the period expiring on May 26.

    “I said I will give them extra time by a way of goodwill gesture. They did not comply. Therefore, it was exhausted because of the consequences of the law and not because of me. Now, what will happen? They will have to respond to court proceedings, investigative proceedings,” Prasad said.

    The Central government recently withdrew Twitter’s ‘intermediary platform’ status due to non-compliance with new IT rules.

  • Rule of land is supreme, not your policy, Twitter told by Parliamentary panel on IT

    By Online Desk
    Twitter India officials on Friday deposed before a parliamentary panel chaired by Shashi Tharoor of the Congress on preventing the misuse of social media.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology, chaired by Tharoor, had last week summoned Twitter over issues related to misuse of the platform and protection of citizens’ rights.

    Twitter India’s public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor deposed before the panel on Friday.

    Coming against the backdrop of the faceoff between the Union government and the microblogging platform, the panel told the Twitter officials that the rule of land is supreme and not its policy, reported PTI.

    According to sources, members of the panel have asked Twitter why it should not be fined for ‘violating’ the rule of the land.

    Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday sent a legal notice to the Managing Director of Twitter India Manish Maheshwari regarding the viral video of the assault on an elderly man in Loni. The MD has been asked to record his statement after the microblogging site “let the anti-social messages go viral”.

    This is the second time the Twitter MD has been called for an inquiry in the last 20 days.

    The police reportedly had also questioned Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari on May 31 and visited the Twitter India offices in Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 over the toolkit issue.

    Recently, Twitter also lost its legal indemnity over its failure to comply with the new IT norms. 

    (Further details awaited)

  • FIR filed against journalists for sharing video of Muslim man be withdraw immediately: Editors Guild

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Friday demanded that the FIR lodged by the Uttar Pradesh Police against a news portal and some journalists for circulating a video clip of an elderly Muslim man on social media be withdrawn immediately.

    It said “this wanton use of the law” to criminalise reporting and dissent to harass independent media was condemnable.

    “The EGI condemns the filing of the FIRs by the Uttar Pradesh government against The Wire and several journalists, for their tweets on an assault on an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad on June 5,” the EGI said in a statement.

    It demanded that the FIRs be withdrawn immediately.

    The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday had filed a first information report (FIR) against Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India, news portal The Wire, scribes Mohammad Zubair and Rana Ayyub and senior journalist and author Saba Naqvi as well as Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Masqoor Usmani and Sama Mohammad for sharing on social media a video clip in which an elderly Muslim says he was thrashed by some people and forced to chant “Jai Sri Ram”.

    “Several media organisations and journalists, besides the ones charged by the police, posted this video on their social media feeds,” the Guild said.

    Subsequently, there was “an alternative version” offered by the Uttar Pradesh Police claiming that the assault was borne out of a dispute regarding a ‘talisman’ that the elderly man had sold to some people, which was also reported by these media organisations and journalists, it added.

    ALSO READ| Ghaziabad assault case: Delhi Police receives complaint against Swara Bhaskar, Twitter India MD

    “The Guild is deeply concerned by the UP police’s track record of filing FIRs against journalists to deter them from reporting serious incidents without fear of reprisals,” the EGI said.

    The Guild said it is the duty of the journalists to report on the basis of the sources and in case the facts become contested, later on, to report the emerging versions and facets.

    For the police to wade into such professional calls by the journalists and attribute criminality to their actions is destructive of freedom of speech, which is constitutionally protected and is an entrenched feature of the rule of law, the EGI said.

    “Further it is quite evident that the police have been discriminatory in targeting those media organisations and the journalists — when thousands had tweeted the video — that has been critical of the government and its policies,” it added.

  • CM Mamata Banerjee condemns attack on Twitter, says govt trying to control everyone they can’t manage

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed the BJP-led union government over its “efforts to control” Twitter and claimed that the Centre, having failed to influence the microblogging platform, is now trying to bulldoze it.

    Drawing a parallel, Banerjee said her government, too, was being meted out the same treatment by the Centre.

    “I condemn it; they can’t control Twitter, so they are trying to bulldoze it. They (Centre) are trying to do so with everyone they are unable to manage. They can’t control me, and that is why they are trying to bulldoze my government, too,” Banerjee said while talking to reporters here.

    The networking platform has lost its ‘safe harbour’ shield in India over non-compliance to IT rules and failure to appoint key personnel mandated under new guidelines.

    It will now be liable for action under the Indian Penal Code for third party unlawful content.

    Making light of BJP’s allegations of continued political violence in the state, the chief minister said it was a saffron party “gimmick” and the claims made were completely “baseless”.

    “There is no political violence going on in the state right now. There may have been one or two sporadic incidents, but those can’t be labelled as incidents of political violence,” she added.

  • Trying to comply with new IT rules, says Twitter

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: After the Centre’s “one last notice” to comply with the new IT rules, Twitter has written to the government that it was making efforts to comply with the guidelines.

    In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said: “Twitter has been and remains deeply committed to India, and serving the vital public conversation taking place on the service. We have assured the Government of India that Twitter is making every effort to comply with the new Guidelines, and an overview of our progress has been duly shared. We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian Government.” 

    Since the notification of the new rules in February, there has been a tussle between the government and Twitter and other social media intermediaries which were given three months to comply.

    According to a news agency, Twitter has written to the government that it was in advanced stages of finalising a chief compliance officer as per the new IT rules and that additional details will be submitted within a week. 

    ​This comes after the Centre’s recent notice saying it was giving Twitter ‘one final notice’ to comply.

  • Twitter lost BJP’s interest; became burden for govt: Saamana

    The editorial believes Twitter has lost the political interest of BJP as the opposition has started responding to its alleged quot;false propaganda quot;.

  • Changes in IT rules dangerous and retrograde, says CPI(M)

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Calling the latest changes in the information technology rules “dangerous and retrograde”, the CPI(M) on Friday hit out at the government accusing it of trying to intimidate microblogging site Twitter.

    A statement issued by the party demanded that the new rules be rescinded.

    “The Government of India is using the Delhi Police to intimidate Twitter for flagging various BJP leaders’ tweets as manipulated media.”

    The CPI(M) condemns the BJP government’s partisan use of the IT Ministry and the police raids on Twitter’s offices as acts of blatant intimidation.

    “Undermining security protocols to provide government access to people’s messages is a dangerous and retrograde measure. These strengthen the architecture of a surveillance State violating the right to privacy of citizens. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands the withdrawal of these provisions,” the statement said.

    The government has recently modified the rules concerning the safe harbour provisions in the IT Act for intermediaries such as Facebook and Twitter which is to come into operation from Friday.

    The notification requires all intermediary platforms providing messaging services to identify the “first originator” of a message trail and furnish this on demand to either the Court or the Government.

  • New IT rules allow message tracing without any judicial review: WhatsApp in Delhi HC petition

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: WhatsApp on Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court against the new rules announced by the Centre for digital media companies and said this will force them to break end-to-end encryption — a move that infringes upon the right to privacy and free speech of hundreds of millions of WhatsApp users.

    In its 234-page plea, the social media giant said the company does not believe traceability can be imposed in a way that cannot be spoofed or modified, leading to new ways for people to be framed for things they did not say or do.

    The plea was moved a day after the deadline for social media companies to put in place new mechanisms to comply with the rules passed.

    Whatsapp has challenged section 4 of Part II of the rules that were notified on February 25 which says that a significant social media intermediary providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information.

    ALSO READ | India again tells WhatsApp to withdraw new privacy policy, firm says no accounts deleted yet

    “Supreme Court has emphasised the importance of judicial review before the invasion of privacy occurs to guarantee against arbitrary action by the State (Puttaswamy judgment). The new IT Rules allow message tracing without any judicial review,” the petition stated.

    The company said it is committed to doing all it can to protect the privacy of people’s personal messages and that is why it is opposing traceability.

    “Citizens will not speak freely for fear that their private communications will be traced and used against them. We are not aware of any country that requires intermediaries to do this,” the plea stated adding that the harm that can be caused is dangerous and disproportionate.

    The petition also cited the risk journalists and activists will be facing if the new IT rules will be adhered to and said, “Journalists could be at risk of retaliation for investigating issues that may be unpopular. Activists could be at risk for discussing certain rights and criticising politicians or policies. Clients and lawyers could become reluctant to share confidential information related to their case.”