Tejasvi Surya, a Member of Parliament from the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party, has once again batted for reviewing how internet intermediaries are regulated. He said Twitter's move to permanently ban outgoing US President Donald Trump is a wake-up call to the threat to democracies posed by "unregulated big tech companies". "If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to anyone, " Surya said. "Sooner India reviews intermediaries regulations, better for our democracy," the Bangalore South MP added. Apart from being deplatformed from Twitter, Trump has also been blocked by Facebook and Snapchat, after he posted in support of the mob which stormed the US Capitol building earlier this week. Twitter, which had only temporarily suspended Trump's personal account, made the ban permanent on Friday. This must be wake up call for all who don’t yet understand threat to our democracies by unregulated big tech companies. If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to anyone. Sooner India reviews intermediaries regulations, better for our democracy.@GoI_MeitY https://t.co/SWzaBfycJ8 — Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) January 9, 2021 In September 2020, Surya had urged the government to repeal the safe harbour protections, declaring them "unconstitutional". He called for new rules to protect fundamental rights, "especially those of the nationalistic approach". A bit of context on : Internet platforms (intermediaries) in India — through the IT Act, 2000 —, and elsewhere in the world, enjoy protections from liability for user content that they host. This means that if a user posts something illegal…
