The Indian government has tightened control of companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
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On Monday, India imposed new laws on social media firms, making no modifications but saying that the law was essential because the corporations had breached Indians’ fundamental rights.
Last week, the country unveiled a raft of reforms to its IT legislation that would force firms to “respect the rights provided to individuals under the constitution of India” and create a government tribunal to hear appeals of content moderation decisions made by companies.
The administration re-released the document on Monday, unchanged, and asked for public feedback within 30 days. On the other hand, New Delhi expressed its argument for the first time.
“Several (technology) intermediaries have operated in breach of Indian people’s constitutional rights,” the government claims.
Many big tech companies have strained ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, and New Delhi has tightened control of businesses like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Last year, tensions between India’s government and Twitter erupted after the latter refused to completely comply with instructions to remove accounts that the government said were disseminating false information about particular farmer demonstrations.
In India, Twitter has been chastised for suspending accounts of influential people, including politicians, alleging policy violations.
The government’s plan would require businesses to “take all necessary means to guarantee that their services are accessible to consumers and have a fair expectation of due diligence, privacy, and openness.”
The government defended the planned new appellate authority, claiming that social media corporations lacked such a mechanism and that “no credible self-regulatory system in place.”
