New regulations in place for Social media platforms, OTT, and digital media

The Supreme Court (SC) of India warned these companies “You (WhatsApp and Facebook) maybe two or three trillion companies but people value their privacy more than money. It is our duty to protect their privacy.” In a press conference Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reiterated GoI policy on February 25, 2021. "The social media is most welcome to do business in the country. They have done a good job in empowering the ordinary Indians and their platform has often been used to cast aspersion on most pressing issues.” However, he cautioned that “the social media platform should not be misused” and have to “comply with the rules and regulations issued by the government.” Prasad warned about double standards adopted by some social media platforms. “If an attack takes place on Capitol Hill in the US, then social media supports police action but if there's an aggressive attack on the Red Fort, then you've double standards.” He said that such behaviour is “plainly not acceptable.”

Prasad highlighted "concerns have been raised about rampant abuse of social media platforms and the spread of fake news.'' He announced a new policy where “Content involving nudity, morphed pictures of women have to be removed within 24 hours. Social media intermediaries have to appoint grievance officer, who shall register complaints in 24 hours."

He insisted that “Social media platforms upon being asked either by a court order or a government authority will be required to disclose the first originator of mischievous tweet or message.” He clarified that these demands “should be only in relation to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, public order, relations with foreign states, or rape, sexually explicit content etc.’’ To comply with these regulations, he required social media platforms to “name a grievance officer” and have a “grievance redressal mechanism” so that they can “register the grievance within 24 hours and disposal in 15 days.” He required all social media platforms to implement these directives “within 3 months.”

Calling for a “grievance redressal system in OTT platforms and digital portals,” he said that “OTT platforms will have to have a self-regulating body, headed by retired Supreme Court or High Court judge or very eminent person in this category,'' He promised an oversight mechanism at the government level as well. According to this three-level grievance redressal system, the first level is with the OTT publisher, the second level is at the self-regulatory body, and the third level would be with the Oversight Mechanism under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. He insisted that these new rules will ensure minimum government intervention provided the platforms should develop a robust grievance redressal mechanism on their own. The publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it. Violation of laws will result in imprisonment of not less than five years.

Amazon Prime, already in trouble for a series of movies that were viewed as anti-Hindu and anti-India, is in serious trouble with the law. A recent series called “Tandav” offended so many people across the country that many police complaints were filed. Fearing arrest, the head of Amazon Prime in India appealed for anticipatory bail which was promptly rejected. Allahabad (city renamed as Prayagraj which is the ancient name for the city) High Court Judge Shree Sidharth pointed out that that the applicant was earlier granted interim protection from arrest by another bench in a similar case but “she was not cooperating with the investigation.”

In response to the judge’s observations and the anger among the majority community, Amazon Prime Video issued a rare apology. It apologised “unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt” and promised to continue to develop content while respecting the diversity of audiences' culture and beliefs. India is a critical growth market for Amazon, where it has committed investments of $6.5 billion. Amazon was also recently exposed by a Reuters sting operation that found that the company gave deep discounts and exclusive tie-ups with preferred sellers and used that relationship to circumvent India’s strict foreign investment regulations.

India's anti-trust body Competition Commission of India is probing the business model of Amazon and Flipkart following allegations of predatory pricing, deep discounting, exclusivity and preferential seller treatment. The company is facing similar charges and investigation in the United States and European Union. More than five lakh (five hundred thousand) traders came together under the umbrella of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to protest against Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezo's visit.

Resenting Bezos’s attitude, Indian government officials refused to meet him when he visited India. Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal observed that if “Amazon lost 1 billion, naturally they have to bring in 1 billion dollars to finance that. They are not doing India any favours.” On March 13, 2021, a draft e-commerce regulation requiring all e-commerce houses like Amazon, Flipkart, and Reliance Industries to have a uniform policy towards all sellers and not give preferential treatment for some.

Despite criticism from self-styled liberals on these policies, some critics in India say that the GoI has not gone far enough. Many cite Polish, French, and Australian proposed legislation that would make it illegal for social media platforms to act Judge deciding whose voice is heard. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki “there is no consent to censorship” and “algorithms or owners of corporate giants should not decide which views are right and which are not.”