The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday asked all big social media platforms to inform it about the status of compliance with the new digital rules that came into force from May 26.
The Ministry has sought details of Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Officer, and Resident Grievance Officer appointed by the platforms under the new social media rules. In a note sent to all social media intermediaries, the MeitY has asked the organisations to submit their responses as soon as possible, preferably by Wednesday (May 26).
“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...,” said MeitY.
While WhatsApp moved the Delhi High Court against the guidelines, Facebook and Twitter have not complied yet.
Apart from details such as the 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”.
Union Minister for MeitY Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Government of India is committed to ensure the right of privacy to all its citizens but at the same time it is also the responsibility of the Government to maintain law and order and ensure national security.” In a statement, he said, “None of the measures proposed by India will impact the normal functioning of WhatsApp in any manner whatsoever and for the common users, there will be no impact.”
The Minister termed WhatsApp’s last moment challenge to the intermediary guidelines as an unfortunate attempt to prevent norms from coming into effect. The Centre’s response comes after WhatsApp filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court challenging the Government’s new digital rules, arguing that the requirement for the company to provide access to encrypted messages will break privacy protections.
The UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada require social media firms to allow for legal interception, it said, adding, “What India is asking for is significantly much less than what some of the other countries have demanded.”
“Therefore, WhatsApp’s attempt to portray the Intermediary Guidelines of India as contrary to the right to privacy is misguided,” the official statement said. The Government recognises that ‘Right to Privacy’ is a fundamental right and is committed to ensure the same to its citizens, it said.
The Government claims that such requirements are only in case when the message needs to be extracted “for prevention, investigation or punishment of very serious offences related to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or of incitement to an offence relating to the above or in relation with rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material.”
Prasad further stated that “the Government of India is committed to ensure the Right of Privacy to all its citizens but at the same time it is also the responsibility of the Government to maintain law and order and ensure national security”.
