New rules to prevent misuse of social media: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday that the IT rules for digital platforms were aimed at preventing misuse of social media, further noting that the average users had nothing to worry about.

He further noted that the government welcomes criticism of the move, including the right to ask questions.

“The rules only empower the ordinary users of social media when they become victims of abuse and misuse,” Prasad tweeted out on Thursday.

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“Ordinary users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear about the new Rules. Its entire objective is to find out who started the message that led to commissioning of specific crimes mentioned in the Rules”, he added.

The new rules, that came into effect on Wednesday, saw the government defending them staunchly, including the assertion that asking messaging platforms like WhatsApp to disclose the origin of flagged texts was not in violation of privacy policy.

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The rules apply to platforms with more than 50 lakh users, and asks them to follow certain additional processes, including recruiting a chief compliance officer among other officials.

Non-compliance, in this case, will result in the concerned company losing its intermediary status, something which provides them immunity from any liability over third-party data hosted by themselves.