The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology will hold a meeting with Facebook India and Google India on Tuesday (June 29). The Committee will register the views of the representatives of both the tech companies on safeguarding citizens' rights and thwarting misuse of online news media platforms.
The committee had also asked Twitter to give a representation to the panel, headed by Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, on how to prevent misuse of social media and online news platforms. The committee had told the social media platform that it will have to comply with the government's rules.
Twitter India's representatives had told the panel on June 19 they follow their own policies during this meeting. Following this, the panel had categorically told Twitter that the "law of the land is supreme" and not the company's policies.
India's permanent mission to the United Nations had also clarified on June 20 that the new IT rules are 'designed to empower ordinary users of social media' and that these rules were finalised after consultations with civil society and other stakeholders.
The government framed Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and notified the same on February 25, 2021. These rules came into effect on May 26, 2021.
These rules mandate social media companies to put in place a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from users or victims. For this purpose, social media companies having a user base of more than 50 lakh will have to appoint a chief compliance officer, a Nodal Contact Person and a resident grievance officer, all of whom should be residents in India.
Edited by Mehak Agarwal
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