Sant Kumar Sharma

Jammu, February 11

 

 

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ruling BJP parliamentarian Tejasvi Surya had last year emphasised the need for creating a new legal framework to regulate social media platforms. On September 3, 2020, Tejasvi had requested Modi to modify Rules 3 (2), 3 (4) and 3 (5) of Information Technology (Intermediary guidelines) Rules, 2011, to effectively regulate "social media platforms". He also said that unregulated overreach of social media tech giants "could pose a threat to the democracy of our country".

 

 

Incidentally, Tejasvi is a member of the Standing Committee on Information Technology, Joint Committee on Offices of Profit and Joint Parliamentary Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019. He had written a nine-page letter to the PM asking him to change the existing laws dealing with information technology. Indeed, the need to make more stringent laws dealing with IT sector have been felt for a long time. Mainly because the sector has grown exponentially, perhaps beyond anyone's imagination. He felt that the laws made in 2011 were not adequate to deal with the IT sector a decade later.

 

 

He said that social media platform giants Twitter, Facebook and its affiliates" were involved in "actively regulating third party content on their platforms". These tech giants used alogrithms to effectively edit or censor third party content on their platforms "in the garb of removing fake news or hate speech".

 

 

By using discriminatory alogrithms or by direct interventions, they have "regularly influenced democratic opinions during the time of elections" in large vibrant democracies. This means they were not mere intermediaries but become an active participant, taking sides in such contests.

 

 

 

 

The most glaring case is the permanent suspension of Twitter handle of Donald Trump in his final days before demitting office. By doing so, Twitter had clearly demonstrated how powerful it had become. Other tech giants like Google and Facebook too are becoming a law unto themselves and facing scrutiny by lawmakers across continents.

 

 

Several countries have flagged the issue that with very deep pockets, these tech giants were often cocking a snook at them. This was the essential background for Tejasvi emphasising the need for new IT laws to effectively regulate the social media.

 

 

Instead of being objective and mere conduits that act as amplifiers of an opinion, the SM platforms were often seen taking sides. A case in point is Twitter removing Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's Tweet in response to Rihanna's Tweet on the farmers' protests. By doing so, it effectively chose to take sides, letting one opinion (of Rihanna) be amplified, and curbing Kangana. This is straight and simple editorial control, something of a role not expected of mere intermediaries.

 

 

In his letter, Tejasvi wrote that India is "the world's largest democracy covering possibly the most varied demography". It also has the "fastest growing number of internet users", the country needs to "review our existing laws in the light of the same", he emphasised.

 

 

He pointed out that these SM platforms claim themselves to be "intermediaries" as per the meaning attributed to the term in IT Act, 2000. He also said that the "role of the Intermediary in law envisages no intervention on the content of the third party users using their networks or platforms". This intervention is something of an everyday reality now with various tech giants clearly taking sides.

 

 

Making a strong plea for bringing in new laws to keep pace with the IT evolution, Tejasvi said: "In summation, the powers under Rule 3(2), 3(4) and 3(5) of the Guidelines effectively violate the very principal assumption of the role of Intermediary under the Act (read existing IT Act)." He further stressed that it "enables the Intermediaries" to "egregiously overreach the restrictions of Free Speech allowed under the Constitution".