Source: www.pexels.com

Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have become a relatively significant part of numerous people’s lives. However, now it is on the edge of getting banned in India. According to the new guidelines of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, all the social media platforms in India have to follow certain IT regulations to run in India. The Centre has announced these guidelines since 25 February 2021, and these new IT regulations gave social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, around a 3-month time period to comply or they will be banned in India. Apart from this, the new IT rules have also asked OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon to obey the rules. And as we know, common organizations including Twitter have not yet met the requirements and the last date to do so was decided as May 25, 2021.

Twitter, which is one of the most-used apps for social media activism and trends, was flooding with support with #IstandwithTwitterIndia. If Twitter misses the mark to complete the terms, there is a possibility that the government will ban the application. The app trended with #IstandwithTwitterIndia, because many people were similarly doubtful and in shock about the matter. The government released IT Rules 2021, for regulating content on social media apps and OTT platforms. These new rules for the social media apps have been out to make the various social media platforms more answerable and liable for all the content that they allow their users to put on their respective platforms.

Source: twitter.com

According to the new social media protocols released by the Indian government, the social media apps will be required to reveal the first creator of an ill-behaved tweet or message which could be related to the authority of India, the security of the states, relations with foreign nations, and many other things. Similarly, the government ordered that social media platforms would be bound under the law to remove any content identified by authorities within 36 hours.

Furthermore, the apps will have to establish a complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in India to resolve the matters. And to avoid the ban, the social media apps like Twitter will have to appoint compliance officers from India. These compliance officers will be responsible for monitoring, overlooking, and removing objectional content from the application. The Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person, and Resident Grievance Officer appointed by the portal will be responsible for handling such matters, but the designations of these posts must only be given to the residents of India. Thus, the social media platforms like Twitter will have to provide a monthly compliance report in which they will have to reveal how to handle users compliant in India.

The concluding time to follow the guidelines by the Indian government has come amidst the tensed relation between The Indian government and Twitter. In India, social media apps like Twitter have always been in controversies due to unalike actions happening over time. Very recently, Indian police have visited a Twitter Office to serve notice after the social media giant labeled a tweet as ‘manipulated media’. The incident came after a tweet by a BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. However, Twitter flagged these claims and was later requested by the Indian government to remove those tags. In April 2021, the Government of India also ordered Twitter to remove the tweets critical of its handling of the COVID-19. At the start of this year, Twitter also overturned its blocking of several accounts following a request from authorities. Those accounts were linked to the farmer protests against the agricultural bills in India. Presently, the Indian alternative to Twitter, the Koo app has claimed that it has compiled with all the new social media app guidelines of India.

With the new regulations for the social media apps, the government is expecting to cut many things which can affect the authority. Moreover, the official statement from the Centre has also mentioned that if Twitter and other companies fail to obey with the new regulations, then criminal action will be taken against them. The apps will also lose their status and shields as mediators as well. However, numerous people are calling out about this huge issue on Twitter. And after countless trends, hashtags, for different things, this time, it was all about the Twitter itself.

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Reference:

  • www.indiatoday.in
  • www.freepressjournal.in
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