The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 notified last week will likely change how the internet functions in the country. The Rules can be divided broadly into three areas — (i) internet and social media intermediaries (ii) digital news and (iii) OTT streaming services. The Rules mandate a laundry list of compliance requirements on intermediaries and social media platforms. Perhaps the mandate most worthy of concern is "traceability", wherein significant social media intermediaries (social media companies with more than 5 million users in India) are required to enable the tracing of a message originator, potentially compromising end-t0-end encryption on their platforms. Meanwhile, on the digital news and OTT front, the I&B ministry has prescribed a "self-regulatory" regime, all the while giving itself powers to virtually block any content on an emergency basis. We have put together a guide on the new Rules, with summaries, commentaries and stories on the same. We have also traced the development of intermediary liability guidelines from 2018, when the government began trying to amend them. The Rules The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 [download] Our summaries of the Rules Intermediaries And Social Media Platforms [read] Digital News Publishing [read] OTT Streaming Services [read] How do the Rules impact the internet, online services, and news? As mentioned above, the Rules will have a fundamental impact on how the internet, and internet-based companies function in India. Everything, starting from online news, streaming content on platforms like…
