Central Government on Thursday released the Code of Ethics and Regulations regarding social media and OTT platforms. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that digital media or no one has the right to spread rumors and lies.
In the Thursday briefing, minister for electronics and information technology (MeitY) Ravi Shankar Prasad said “The rules build a soft-touch. self-regulatory architecture and a Code of Ethics and a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for news publishers and OTT Platforms and digital media,”. The central government said that social media platforms have to have a grievance redressal mechanism and also name the officer handling the grievances. This officer will file the complaint in 24 hours and resolve it in 15 days. The Central Government on Thursday released the Code of Ethics and Regulations regarding social media and OTT platforms. The central government asked social media platforms, digital media, and OTT platforms to comply with these rules.
The government said that if these rules are not followed, the government will take legal action against them. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that digital media or no one has the right to spread rumors and lies.
The rules and guidelines include Social media is divided into 2 categories;One Intermediary and the other Significant Social Media Intermediary.
Significant social media intermediaries have additional duties. The government will soon issue a notification for the user number.
Social media platforms have to have a grievance redressal mechanism.The name of the officer handling the complaints will also have to be named. This officer will file the complaint in 24 hours and resolve it in 15 days.
Significant social media will have to appoint the Chief Compliance Officer. He will remain in India. He will be responsible for compliance with the rules.
A nodal contact person will also have to be appointed. That too will remain in India. He will coordinate with 24x7 law enforcement agencies. Apart from this, Significant social media platforms will also have to appoint the resident officers.
The social media company will have to publish the Monthly Compliance Report. In this, information about the number of complaints, what action was taken on it, what was disposed of, etc. will have to be given. Complaints related to the reputation of the users, especially in cases related to the dignity of women, such as photographs of private parts, nudity, sexual acts, will have to remove the content within 24 hours.
On the lines of self-regulation of TV, the OTT platforms have to be self-regulated. OTT platforms have to do their classification - 16 plus 16 above, adult category. The ethics code of the censor board will be common for these.
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