Government proposes New Social Media Rules with no Violation of ‘Right to Privacy’

Thumbnail: New Digital Rules: Government Respects the Right of Privacy

YT Video Title: Government proposes New Social Media Rules with no Violation of ‘Right to Privacy’

Tags: Digital Guidelines, Right to Privacy, Whatsaap, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Youtube, Social Media Guidelines, Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Rules 2021,

Full Tweet Text: New digital rules designed to prevent abuse & misuse of social media, WhatsApp users have nothing to fear, says IT Minister @rsprasad
What does Govt. say on changed guidelines & will it violate right to privacy? Watch the video to find out.
@GoI_MeitY

Video Script

“The Government of India recognises that the ‘Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right and it is committed to ensuring the same to its citizens,” says the Ministry of Electronics & IT.

The Ministry on 26th May wrote to Social Media Platforms, requesting them to furnish detail of compliance with the new “Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Rules 2021’.

The rules were notified on February 25 and their provisions came into effect only from May 26 2021.

*What are these New New Digital Rules?*

The new rules announced on February 25, 2021, require large social media platforms — defined as those with over 50 lakh users in the country — to follow 16-due diligence steps, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer.

The Rules also empower the Centre to ask messaging platforms like ‘WhatsApp’, ‘Facebook messenger’, ‘Telegram’ to trace the ‘first originator’ of mess.

In response to these guidelines, On 26 May WhatsApp filed a case against certain provisions of the new rules in Delhi High Court. A few hours later the government responded back by calling WhatsApp “misguided”.

Earlier, Whatsapp had challenged the traceability clause as mentioned under Rule 4(2) of the IT Rules, 2021, contending that the aforesaid rule requires messaging apps to ‘trace’ chats, which is equivalent to keeping a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp.

The platform states it would break end-to-end encryption and will fundamentally undermine people’s right to privacy,

*What does the Government say?*

The Government, however, issued a press release on 26th May, stated that such Requirements are only in case when the message is required 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.

All this, including those in relation to rape, sexually explicit material or child sexual abuse material.
The government has maintained that common users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear about the new Rules. Its entire objective is to find out who started the message that led to the commissioning of specific crimes mentioned in the Rules.

Facing critiques from all across over the new social media rules, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad 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.”

These rules, the government maintains, is not a measure in isolation. They have been framed after consultation with various stakeholders and social media intermediaries, including but not limited to WhatsApp.

Currently, Digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google have said that they are working towards meeting the compliance requirements for the new guidelines.

*Are these rules exclusive to India?
Not quite*

While Whatsapp in its petition against these IT rules says that “it is not aware of any country that requires intermediaries to do this.”

The government on the other hand states, In July 2019, the governments of the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada issued an official statement that asked tech companies to include mechanisms in the design of their encrypted products and services whereby governments, acting with appropriate legal authority, can gain access to data in a readable and usable format.

Also, that Brazilian law enforcement is looking for WhatsApp to provide suspects’ IP addresses, customer information, geo-location data and physical messages.

Against many backlashes on the new digital rules, the Government staunchly maintains that “all-sufficient safeguards have also been considered and it is not any individual who can trace the first originator of the information.

The same can only be done by a process sanctioned by the law. Additionally, this has also been developed as a last resort measure, only in scenarios where other remedies have proven to be ineffective.