What India IT Rules 2021 - Rule 3 Intermediary Due Diligence and Rule 4 Significant Social Media Intermediary Obligations for Adult Content, Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery and Child Safety requires
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (commonly the IT Rules 2021) were notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on 25 February 2021 under Section 87(2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act). The Rules supersede the prior 2011 Intermediary Guidelines and impose substantive due-diligence obligations on intermediaries that, if not observed, cause the intermediary to lose the safe-harbour immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act. Rule 3 (Due Diligence by an Intermediary) requires intermediaries to: (a) publish on the website terms of service, privacy policy and rules; (b) inform users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share information that, inter alia, is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, or that violates IT Act Sections 67, 67A, 67B (obscene material, sexually explicit content and child pornography respectively); (c) terminate or remove access of users on receipt of a court or government order, or pursuant to grievance officer determination, within thirty-six hours of receipt of such order (Rule 3(1)(d) read with Rule 3(2)); (d) Rule 3(2)(b) requires intermediaries to remove or disable access to content in the nature of impersonation, morphing, simulating sexual or partially or fully nude depictions of an individual, including in the form of a deepfake, within twenty-four hours of receiving a complaint by the affected individual or any person on their behalf. Rule 4 (Additional Due Diligence by a Significant Social Media Intermediary, SSMI, defined under Rule 2(w) as an intermediary with five million or more registered users in India) requires: appointment of a Chief Compliance Officer responsible for IT Act and IT Rules compliance, a Nodal Contact Person available 24x7 for coordination with law enforcement, and a Resident Grievance Officer who must reside in India and acknowledge user complaints within twenty-four hours and dispose of them within fifteen days under Rule 3(2)(a). Rule 4(4) requires SSMIs that provide messaging or other services to deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools and other mechanisms, to identify content depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), rape and other previously blocked content. Loss of safe harbour under Section 79 of the IT Act exposes intermediaries to direct criminal liability under IT Act Sections 67 (obscene material, up to three years imprisonment for first offence, up to five years for subsequent), 67A (sexually explicit content, up to five years for first offence, up to seven for subsequent) and 67B (child sexual abuse material and abuse via electronic means, up to five years for first offence, up to seven for subsequent, with fine). The Rules have been amended several times including the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules of 6 April 2023 (deepfake and fact-check unit provisions) and the 2024 advisories on AI-generated content moderation.
Pillar: Adult Industry & Sexual Content Compliance · Authority: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India; notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on 25 February 2021 under Section 87(2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000; subsequently amended by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules of 28 October 2022 and 6 April 2023 · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
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Primary Citations — 7 traced to source
- Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 25 February 2021 under Section 87(2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended by the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules of 28 October 2022 and 6 April 2023; Rule 2(1)(w) defines Significant Social Media Intermediary with the five-million-Indian-user threshold notified on 25 February 2021
- Rule 3 (Due Diligence by an Intermediary) of the IT Rules 2021: Rule 3(1)(b) user notification of prohibited content categories including obscene, pornographic and paedophilic; Rule 3(1)(d) takedown within thirty-six hours of court or government order; Rule 3(2)(a) grievance officer acknowledgement within twenty-four hours and disposal within fifteen days; Rule 3(2)(b) twenty-four-hour removal of impersonation, morphing or sexually explicit deepfake content following complaint by affected individual
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