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Synopsis

The Central government notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022 which amends the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, on Friday.

The IT Amendment Rule, 2022 has now made a provision for a Grievance Appellate Committee over the earlier appointed Grievance Officer, where the entire process of appeal shall be in digital mode.

The Appellate Committee shall consist of a chairperson and two whole time members appointed by the Central Government. The time period given to a person to prefer an appeal to the Appellate Committee is within a period of thirty days. Also, the appeal has to be disposed of within 30 days of its institution.

Earlier the IT Rules, 2021, had a provision mandating the intermediary to appoint a ‘Grievance Officer’. The name of the officer had to be published on the website along with the contact details.

The Amending Rules also provide for the rules and regulations, privacy policy, and user agreement to be published on the websites, in English or any language specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has 22 languages. Inter alia the provisions and restrictions under the earlier rules have all to be provided in the varied languages, thus pressing on inclusivity.  

Moreover, intermediaries have been cautioned to observe more transparency, due diligence, and privacy. 

What is to be noted is that the IT Rules, 2021 provided for three separate broad entities: intermediaries, social media intermediaries and significant media intermediaries. Where, Intermediaries include telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, online-auction sites, online-market places and cyber cafes" (as per the definition given under the IT Act 2002); Social Media Intermediaries includes an intermediary which primarily or solely enables online interaction between two or more users and allows them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify or access information using its services; and Significant Social Media Intermediaries means a social media intermediary having number of registered users in India above such threshold as notified by the Central Government.