As per a recent notification, the government has fixed a five million registered users as the threshold for defining a significant social media intermediary, which will have to adhere to additional obligations and compliance under the new IT rules that aim to curb misuse of social media platforms. The new rules announced recently require significant social media intermediaries to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer. Further, all three officials will have to reside in India.
Moreover, the intermediaries will have to publish a monthly compliance report and details of the contents removed proactively.
Earlier, the government had announced tightening of the rules governing social media and streaming companies, requiring them to take down contentious content quicker, appoint grievance redressal officers and assist investigations. The move is aimed at making social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram more accountable and responsible for the content hosted on their platform.
