Social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp, may face ban in India if they fail to comply with the new digital intermediary guidelines for social media platforms.
Today (May 26) is the last day for all social media firms to meet a local regulation in India that was introduced in February and mandates all firms to appoint a compliance officer in India.
If these social media platforms fail to accept government guidelines, they risk losing status as social media platforms. Government can also take action against them as per the law of the land for not following the rules.
The government today wrote to major social media platforms on whether they had complied with new digital rules taking effect today and asked for their response “ASAP, preferably today”.
These social media platforms were given three months to comply with the new rules that require them to appoint a compliance officer in India, set up a grievance response mechanism and take down content within 36 hours of a legal order.
The note from the Ministry of Electronics and IT asked the companies to give information on the status of compliance and stressed: “Please confirm and share your response ASAP and preferably today itself.”
None of any of them have accepted the new regulations so far. Only domestic social media platform Koo has so far accepted the rules.
