Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash Last week, the Government notified guidelines for social media intermediaries in the form of Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. One of the clauses requires all significant social media intermediaries - i.e. those having more than five million users to voluntarily verify their accounts by using an appropriate mechanism including the active Indian mobile number of such users. It also requires that any user who has voluntarily verified his/her account shall be provided with a demonstrable and visible mark of verification, which shall be visible to all users of the service.
Whatsapp, Signal and Telegram face a catch-22 situation as India’s new social media rules threaten encryption
Whatsapp, Signal and Telegram face a catch-22 situation as India’s new social media rules threaten encryption
Prabhjote GillMar 31, 2021, 11:51 IST
India s new social media regulations may require WhatsApp to break encryption in order to complyUnsplash
India’s new social media regulations want social media apps like
WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram to identify the ‘first originator’.
In cases where social media apps are being used to spread ‘mischief’, the government wants the ability to track down the instigators.
Tracking the origin of messages may require apps offering privacy to break end-to-end