Govt Framing New Laws To Protect Internet Users, Says Minister

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New Delhi: The Central government is in the process of promulgating new laws to protect internet users.

Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar said during the Times Now Summit 2021 that algorithms of social media platforms should not violate fundamental rights of the citizens.

“If the internet should be open, it should be safe and trusted by the consumers, and intermediaries should be accountable to the users. Some forms of rules have to come into place. I believe regardless of who you are, some things in India are absolutely non-negotiable,” Chandrasekhar remarked.

The minister stated that if any consumer is aggrieved by the conduct of an intermediary (social media platform like Facebook), he/she has the right to hold them to account by writing a letter/email, raising a grievance with the grievance officer.

“It is obligatory on the part of those platforms to respond to that grievance. So the state has very little role in it unless a grievance officer is not satisfyingly addressing the grievances of the consumer,” the minister added.