Provide Details on Compliance with New Rules Within 15 Days: Centre to OTT, Social Media Publishers

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked the digital media publishers, including OTT and digital news platforms to furnish details on their compliance with the new guidelines on digital media ethics within 15 days.

Further, the new guidelines state that content involving nudity and morphed pictures of women will have to be removed within 24 hours of a complaint being raised.

"They will have to have a grievance redressal mechanism, a grievance officer who shall register the grievance within 24 hours and disposal in 15 days," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier said.

The regulation also requires social media companies to appoint a chief compliance officer, another executive for coordinating on law enforcement, and a "grievance redressal officer". All must be resident Indian citizens.

The "Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021", was notified after a press conference by Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar. The Union ministers said these policies were meant to tackle the "rampant abuse of social media platforms" and the spreading of fake news.

On the other hand for the OTT platforms, under the new set of rules, the OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon will have to set up a mechanism for addressing any grievances. While films have a censor board, OTT platforms will require to self-classify their movies and content based on age.

Detailed classification of content on the basis of age, sex, violence, and nudity will also have to be listed.

If this body believes that the content violates the law, it would be empowered to send the content to a government-controlled committee for blocking orders to be issued.

Also Read: Twitter Expresses Concerns Over Erosion of Freedom of Expression and Police Intimidation Tactics

Also Watch: