India Plans Social Media Controls

Chafing from a dispute with Twitter, India plans to oblige social media companiestoerasecontentiouscontentfastandassistinvestigations, according to a draft regulation. New Delhi’s planned “Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code” - a copy of which was seen by Reuters - came as various nations aroundtheworldtrytoasserttightercontroloverpowerfulBigTechfirms. Facebookfacedaglobalbacklashfrompublishersandpoliticiansrecently after blocking news feeds in Australia in a dispute with the government over revenue-sharing. InIndia,Twitterignoredorderstoremovecontentoverfarmers’protests, fuelling the zeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government since 2018totightenregulationforcontentitdeemsdisinformationorunlawful. Thelatestdraftrules-whichwouldbelegallyenforcable-saycompanies should remove content as early as possible, but not later than 36 hours, after a government or legal order. They must also assist in investigations or other cyber security-related incidentswithin72hoursofarequest.Further,ifapostdepictsanindividual in any sexual act or conduct, then companies must disable or remove such content within a day of receiving a complaint, the rules added. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Twitter, which did not take down all accounts the government alleged werespreadingliesabouttheprotestsoveragriculturalreforms,declined to comment.