09/11/2022 - S & T

KEY POINTS

·        Social media platforms regularly manage user content on their website. They remove, prioritise or suspend user accounts that violate the terms and conditions of their platforms.

·        It was voluntary for platforms to establish a grievance redressal mechanism through their terms of service until the government introduced the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

·        This signifies the government’s tightening control of online speech, much like Section 69A of the IT Act.

·        The IT Act was passed in 2000 and Section 69A was introduced in 2008 when social media barely existed.

·        Disinformation campaigns on social media during COVID-19 and hate speech against the Rohingya in Myanmar are recent examples.

·        Co-regulation will give them the flexibility to define the evolving standards of harmful content, thereby obviating the need for strict government mandates.

·        This will promote free speech online because government oversight incentivises platforms to engage in private censorship.

·        Co-regulatory mechanisms allows the state to outsource content regulation to platforms, which are better equipped to tackle modern content moderation challenges.

·        A Digital India Act is expected to be the successor law to the IT Act. This is a perfect opportunity for the government to adopt a co-regulatory model of speech regulation of online speech.

Kindly review

Kindly review sir /mam... It is my first attempt in writing a mains answer

Pls review