This Article is written by Areeba Feroz Khan (student of ICFAI Law School, Hyderabad pursuing BA.LLB(Hons.))
Information is currently gathered, collected, and relayed at an alarming rate in the digital and computing world. As a result of tech advances, a tremendous amount of data is being generated through the increased use of smart devices. We all know that big data is shared and transferred more incredibly on different optical fibres. However, the fast growth rate of such massive data volumes generates challenges in the following areas: i) Searching, Sharing, and Transferring Data ii) Analysis and Computing of Data iii) Data Curation iv) Storing, Updating and Querying Data v) Information privacy. Million new data producing social media users every day; there are about 656 million tweets per day!
There are more than 4 million hours of content uploaded to YouTube every day, with all its users watching around 5.97 billion hours of YouTube videos each day. There are approximately 67.30 million Instagram posts uploaded each day. There have been more than 2.20 billion monthly active Facebook users in 2018 01. On average, there are about 1.32 billion daily active users as of June 2017. Every day, 4.3 billion Facebook messages get posted. There are around 5.75 billion Facebook likes every day. On average, in 2018, more than 40,000 search queries per second, 3.5 billion/day daily, and 1.2 million searches/year on google get initiated. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting press release observed “the increasing instances of misuse of social media by criminals, anti-national elements have brought new challenges for law enforcement agencies. There is no robust complaint mechanism wherein the ordinary users of social media and OTT platforms can register their complaints and get them redressed within a defined timeline. Lack of transparency and absence of robust grievance redressal mechanisms have left the users dependent on the whims and fancies of social media platforms.”
Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar, interacts with representatives of Digital News Publishers:
Shri Prakash Javadekar, the union minister of information and broadcasting, held a conference to interact with the representatives of the digital news publishers’ association in the backdrop of the IT (intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code) rules, 2021 in the presence of Hindustan Times, India Today, Dainik Bhaskar, ABP, Lokmat, Times of India, Dainik Jagran, Eenadu and Indian Express. Javadekar informed that the new rules placed specific responsibilities on digital news publishers. These include adherence to the Code of Ethics, such as the norms of journalistic conduct framed by the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Network Act.
Further to redress citizens’ grievances, the rules have provided for a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism. The first and second-tier would be of the digital news publishers and self-regulatory bodies constituted by them. The digital news publishers would also be required to furnish some basic information to the Ministry in a simple form finalized. They would be periodically required to place in the public domain the grievance redressal undertaken by them. He stated that print media and TV channels have digital versions whose content is almost the same as traditional platforms. However, some contents appear exclusively on the digital platform. Several entities are only on the digital platform. Accordingly, the rules seek to cover the news on Digital Media to bring them at par with the traditional media.
OTT Regulations 2021:
OTT provides television and film content over the internet at the request and suits the individual consumer’s requirements. The term itself stands for “over-the-top,” which implies that a content provider goes over the top of existing internet services. Services like Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+HotStar are video OTT services, which provide users with several programming options, both in terms of a licensed library of TV shows and films and original programming is OTT. Keeping everything in mind, on February 26, 2021, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under the powers conferred to it by Sections 69A (2), 79(2)(c), and 87 of the Information Technology Act, passed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (Rules) for regulating the OTT services, social media platforms, and digital media. The regulations of the OTT platform are divided into three parts, i.e., I, II, III.
Part I: The whole part has been dedicated to the definitions. Part II: It contains the due diligence required to be observed by social media intermediary and implementation of the grievance redressal mechanism, administered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Part III of the Rule applies to publishers of news and current affairs content and publishers of online curated content. The Rules establish a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for news publishers and OTT platforms and digital media. The structure of the three tiers will be
Level I: Self-regulation by the publisher.
Level II: Independent body by the publishers.Level III: Oversight mechanism by the Central Government. A publisher shall establish a grievance redressal mechanism and appoint a Grievance Officer, who shall be the contact point for receiving any grievance relating to the Code of Ethics and act as the nodal point for interaction with the complainant, the self-regulating body, and the Ministry. The officer shall make sure that a complaint is solved in 15 days. The online-curated content has to be classified in the categories as provided in the Schedule to the Rule. One or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers constitute an independent body headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court or any person from the relevant media field. The self-regulating body shall register with the Ministry within 30 days from its constitution. The functions of the self-regulating body are: To oversee and ensure that the publishers follow the Code of Ethics; To guide or advise the publishers on various aspects and also to ensure compliance to the Code of Ethics; To address grievances and hear appeals that have not been resolved within fifteen days. They are empowered with issuing warnings, rebuking, admonishing, or reprimanding the publisher. In the case of online-curated content, it can direct the publisher to re-classify rating, edit synopsis, modify content descriptor, age classification, and access control. When the publisher fails to comply with the body’s advice, they shall refer it to the Oversight Mechanism. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall develop an Oversight Mechanism. The Ministry shall appoint an “Authorised Officer” who acts as the Chairman of the Committee.
The Committee shall hear the complaints, appeals regarding any violation or contravention of the Code of Ethics. It can execute the following functions: Publish a charter for self-regulating bodies. Establish an Inter-DepartmentalCommittee (Committee) for hearing grievances; the Committee shall consist of representatives from different Ministries of the Government. Issue orders and directions to the publisher for maintenance and adherence to the Code of Ethics. Delete or modify content to prevent incitement of an offence. Block the published contents in case of emergency. Part III of the Rules also require the publishers to furnish information to the Government and periodically disclose the grievance redressal.
Conclusion:
There have been several debates since the Rules were published. These laws give power to the Central Government to act, direct, block, delete the contents published on these platforms. It is necessary to implement some rules to regulate the OTT platforms and social media companies. The Government should keep in check to prevent them from making arbitrary decisions towards the online content, as that would be an infringement of the freedom of speech and expression. The publishers have to display the classification rating at the beginning of every program and provide a parental lock feature on their platform. The Rules also provide guidelines for classifying curated content into context, theme, tone, and impact, target audience. U = (Universal) for children, U/A 7+ = for children aged 7 years and above, U/A 13+ = for children aged 13 years and above, U/A 16+ = for persons aged 16 years and above, A = (Adult).
