The government on Thursday said that social media is welcome to do business in India but there should be no double standards and that it will have to comply with the rules and regulations issued from time to time so that its misuse can be prevented. The government also announced new guidelines to curb the misuse of social media platforms.
Digital Gets Ground Rules
By Subimal Bhattacharjee
In a joint press conference addressed on Thursday by Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, GoI unveiled the much-awaited guidelines for over-the-top (OTT) and digital media platforms. The move comes in the wake of a growing chorus of complaints by members of civil society, activists, filmmakers, political leaders and impartial institutions regarding the lack of ethical conduct by OTT and digital news platforms. These complaints have been echoed in some of the judgements of the Supreme Court and a few high courts.
GoI had initially been reluctant to impinge on the freedom of online platforms, and had encouraged them to come out with a self-regulatory code to be enforced by an independent body. Attempts at putting together the independent body to regulate digital platforms fell through, as the proposed body had only industry professionals on board, reducing the credibility of the body. This prompted the government to come out w
Updated Feb 25, 2021 | 15:34 IST
Stressing on self-regulation and oversight mechanism for online services, Union I&B minister Javadekar said OTTs will need to mark age-appropriate content and provide a parental lock for sensitive material Union Minister Prakash Javadekar | Photo Credit: ANI
Union Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Prakash Javadekar during a joint press conference with Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad urged over-the-top (OTT) platforms to come with self-regulatory guidelines.
His ministry prescribed the guidelines on the code of ethics for online news, OTT platforms and digital media based on a soft-touch self-regulatory architecture and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for such online services.
Terming the guidelines as soft touch regulations, the government said there was an urgent need to address rising user grievances related to social media, OTT platforms and online news platforms