Government Issues Advisory To Curb Hoax Bomb Threats On Social Media

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued an advisory underlining the responsibility of intermediaries including social media platforms, to curb the spread of hoax bomb threats by the various airlines operating in India.

MeitY has emphasized that the social media platforms must abide by the IT Act, 2000, the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

These intermediaries are directed to immediately remove unlawful content in order to maintain public order and security.

The instances of malicious acts in the form of hoax bomb threats targeting airlines, pose a potential threat to public order and state security. Threats of this sort not only affects a large number of citizens but also destabilizes the economic security of India.

In a major cause of concern, the scale of spread of such hoax bomb threats has been observed to be alarmingly unrestrained, facilitated by social media features like "forwarding," "re-sharing," "re-posting," and "re-tweeting."

Such misinformation significantly disrupts public order, airline operations, and the security of air travelers.

In this regard, it should be noted that intermediaries, including social media platforms have a due diligence obligation under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules, 2021”) to promptly remove such misinformation that affects public order and security of the state.

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