New Delhi: An industry group known as the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), representing US-based big tech companies, has asked India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to consider changes to proposed changes to the new IT rules of the Landes for 2021 would “nullify the government’s obligation to facilitate doing business”. In a letter to the IT Department, the coalition, which represents Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon, Twitter and Spotify, among others, said the proposed changes to the new 2021 IT rules would affect business continuity for all intermediaries doing so have made significant investments in the country in terms of technology, manpower and other resources.
The coalition said that intermediaries within the meaning of Section 79 of the IT Act only provide a technology platform or computing resource as a service to the user. (ALSO READ: Sensex, Nifty Spurs Over 1% as Unexpected Tax Cut, FII Inflows Boost Sentiment)
“Ultimately, the user determines the nature of the content to be communicated or transmitted on the platforms/computer resources operated by the intermediaries. In light of this, it may be more beneficial to impose regulations prohibiting the distribution of certain types of content on the user themselves,” she argued. (ALSO READ: SBI WhatsApp Banking Services: How to Check Balance, Mini Statement)
The newly released draft from the IT Department has revealed a plan to create an Appellate Body that can overturn content moderation decisions by big tech companies. The new IT rules also require major social media platforms to help the government trace the sender of messages in special cases.
The coalition said the MeitY should allow industry to introduce a self-regulatory grievance mechanism as an alternative to the Grevance Advisory Committee (GAC).
“An industry-led self-regulatory mechanism will enable companies to adopt best practices and ensure long-term solutions by identifying trends and gaps. In this regard, we request MeitY for a period of at least six months to implement such a self-regulatory mechanism,” the group said.
The letter to the IT ministry came as Indonesia, a country of nearly 28 million people, forced meta-platforms and Google to comply with new rules for big tech that give authorities the power to overhaul social media apps and block online sites.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp signed up for new rules ahead of Wednesday’s deadline.
The AIC said they continue to recommend these new requirements – 24-hour time limits for acknowledging requests to ban or suspend a user or remove information related to Rule 3(1)(b) – and certainly raise appeal time limits to 72 hours Content — would be limited to intermediary services that have a proven viral propensity.
“These obligations should only apply to services or parts of services that enable the sharing of material with all end users and where the intermediary reasonably knows, based on previous experience, that there is a tendency for material to be amplified or accessed virally on the service”, the letter argued.
The Coalition wished to draw the Department of IT’s attention to the fact that a single non-compliance by the intermediary could result in the loss of Safe Harbor protection under the IT Act.
“We call on MeitY to provide clarity on how to meet user expectations of ‘due diligence, privacy and transparency’ beyond the existing compliances that already exist in Indian law,” it added.