I am running a small Facebook group and personal blog with news and commentary about India and just heard about the new Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. I have advertisements with Google but am not making a lot of money from it, it is just a hobby project.
I just finished reading this and had some opinions I am happy to share.
It looks like a law that will be of benefit to the large media companies and players and give government a very effective tool to censor online news and continue adding more regulations. I personally think that it goes beyond the original Act and the cost of compliance to many smaller news sites will be prohibitive, so yes it may be challenged in court, like IFF has pointed out but it will take a long time and the courts may look favorably on the rules.
If you are making money from Google you will probably have to follow the rules, ie you will have to list contact details for a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India on your blog or Facebook group.
And you will also have to join a Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO). It is impossible to say what those will look like right now and how many there will be but seems likely that it will be a small number and they will charge membership fees.
It says the SRO has to be headed by a retired judge from a list prepared by the government so right now it would be hard to tell how many retired judges will be on such a list but there will probably be a few big SROs started by the big traditional publishers like Bennett Coleman or traditional industry bodies, etc or maybe some smaller ones.
quote The self-regulatory body referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court, who shall be appointed from a panel prepared by the Ministry, and have other members, not exceeding six, being experts from the field of media, broadcasting, technology and entertainment.[/quote]
That also looks like an easy way for the government to ensure that the SROs will be toeing the government line on any controversial issues, by only putting sympathetic judges on the list.
You can also hope that your outlet is so small that it will fly under the radar but if you get a complaint against you, there is a risk sanction under the IT Act.
Under section 69 of the IT Act 2000, read with section 87(2)(z) ( https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1965344/ ), the government can block your blog from access in India if there are complaints and you haven't complied with the SRO or other regulation.
It is not clear what other penalties are available but under the Rules Miscellaneous 18, it states
Quote:
18. Contravention of rules: — The provisions of the Act, including Section 45 of the Act, shall apply for any violation of these rules.
Section 45 of the Act only specifies monetary penalties.
Quote:
Residuary penalty.-Whoever contravenes any rules or regulations made under this Act, for the contravention of which no penalty has been separately provided, shall be liable to pay a compensation not exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees to the person affected by such contravention or a penalty not exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees.
Other sections and penalties of the Act including imprisonment already apply to any online communication of course (like transmitting obscene materials, sending offensive messages, etc).
I am not an expert in this area of law but interested. If I have any other thoughts I will share.
They are definitely creating a slippery slope, it gives the government three levels of attack on online publications, putting online under a stricter onus for content than the print publications and the SRO structure looks like a terrible idea.
Anyone knows what will happen to international newspapers or channels or websites with presence in India, like BBC? Will they also register or can they claim that they are not doing "systematic business activity" to make its content available in India and targeted at Indian users?
The wording of the rules seems really unclear:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XwWIs_26FRXkK6qkB193ajxfOP620iyx/view
Internet Freedom Foundation and Medianama have done a good analysis but I am unsure what it actually means. Will my blog have to become a member of a self regulatory organisation? Am I a news publisher? Do you think this will be challenged in court? It seems really unfair.
https://www.medianama.com/2021/02/223-summary-digital-news-regulation-intermediary-liability/
https://internetfreedom.in/latest-draft-intermediary-rules-fixing-big-tech-by-breaking-our-digital-rights/
Any thoughts would be welcome.
It looks like a law that will be of benefit to the large media companies and players and give government a very effective tool to censor online news and continue adding more regulations. I personally think that it goes beyond the original Act and the cost of compliance to many smaller news sites will be prohibitive, so yes it may be challenged in court, like IFF has pointed out but it will take a long time and the courts may look favorably on the rules.
If you are making money from Google you will probably have to follow the rules, ie you will have to list contact details for a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India on your blog or Facebook group.
And you will also have to join a Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO). It is impossible to say what those will look like right now and how many there will be but seems likely that it will be a small number and they will charge membership fees.
It says the SRO has to be headed by a retired judge from a list prepared by the government so right now it would be hard to tell how many retired judges will be on such a list but there will probably be a few big SROs started by the big traditional publishers like Bennett Coleman or traditional industry bodies, etc or maybe some smaller ones.
quote The self-regulatory body referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court, who shall be appointed from a panel prepared by the Ministry, and have other members, not exceeding six, being experts from the field of media, broadcasting, technology and entertainment.[/quote]
That also looks like an easy way for the government to ensure that the SROs will be toeing the government line on any controversial issues, by only putting sympathetic judges on the list.
You can also hope that your outlet is so small that it will fly under the radar but if you get a complaint against you, there is a risk sanction under the IT Act.
Under section 69 of the IT Act 2000, read with section 87(2)(z) ( https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1965344/ ), the government can block your blog from access in India if there are complaints and you haven't complied with the SRO or other regulation.
It is not clear what other penalties are available but under the Rules Miscellaneous 18, it states
Quote: Section 45 of the Act only specifies monetary penalties.
Quote: Other sections and penalties of the Act including imprisonment already apply to any online communication of course (like transmitting obscene materials, sending offensive messages, etc).
I am not an expert in this area of law but interested. If I have any other thoughts I will share.
Anyone knows what will happen to international newspapers or channels or websites with presence in India, like BBC? Will they also register or can they claim that they are not doing "systematic business activity" to make its content available in India and targeted at Indian users?