Social media is abuzz with the news of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram facing a ban in India if they fail to comply with the new guidelines given by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).
The guidelines were valid for 3 months ending on May 25, and this has led to widespread speculation that the popular social media platforms might be banned here. So much so that popular YouTubers have even cashed in on the trend by hosting their “last ever vlogs”.
None of the social media giants has reportedly accepted the new regulations so far.
Only Indian-made Koo, which is similar to Twitter, is the only platform that has accepted the Centre’s intermediary guidelines.
The government can take action against these social media platforms as they stand to lose the protections they are currently getting.
Facebook has indicated that it aims to comply with the new provisions. “We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. According to the IT rules, we are working to implement operational processes and improve efficiencies. Facebook remains committed to people’s ability to freely and safely express themselves on our platform,” the company said in a statement.
Social media platforms will be required to appoint a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer among other changes. The government has been tightening regulations on social media and in February, it changed regulations requiring platforms to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours.
They will also have to generate a monthly compliance report showing details of complaints received and action taken, as well as how many were removed.
All social media platforms will be required to have a physical contact address in India as mentioned on their website or app.
There are currently 53 crore WhatsApp users, 44.8 crore YouTube users, 41 crore Facebook subscribers, 21 crore Instagram clients, 1.75 crore Twitter users and 60 lakh Koo users in India.
