‘Social media companies must be accountable for content on platforms’

New Delhi: Social media firms must be “accountable” for the content on their platforms and cannot take cover behind “algorithms,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, union minister of state for electronics and information technology, told ET in an exclusive interview.

“The government believes that there has to be accountability of all intermediaries to their users,” he said, more so in cases of discrimination amongst users, online harm or spread of misinformation.

The Joint Committee of Parliament (JCP ) studying the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 has recommended that social media platforms, which are not intermediaries, should be classified as publishers and be made responsible for the content on their platforms. It also noted that the current IT Act has been unable to regulate social media entities.


Terming these platforms as “publishers, because to a large part, they are publishing content,” Chandrasekhar said the “only dispute was whether they (social media firms) are responsible for content that is published on their platform by somebody else, or is somebody else responsible?”

Clarifying that he is yet to see the final report of the committee, the minister said platforms cannot claim immunity as a publisher while also declining to reveal the identity of users who post harmful content. “There is a maze of contradictions…some of the content is either wrong or is defamatory or it is illegal. It is abusive, or it is plain outright predatory and exploitative of people, and then nobody is held responsible (for it).”

So far, jurisprudence allowed users to be anonymous and for platforms to get immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act, but that can’t be a “situation for any civilized society or any law-abiding community,” he said.

Hiding behind Algorithms
The former entrepreneur and technocrat who had earlier served as a member of the parliamentary committee was of the view that the internet cannot be a “utopia for criminals."

“If they ( social media firms) think that algorithms are a cover for ( ducking) responsibility, that is incorrect. I've made it very clear to all of them that they will have to abide by and respect the constitutional values of article 14, 19 and 21. That is the right of every Indian citizen…” he said.

Commenting on the dissent notes by lawmakers, the minister pointed out that Section 35 of the Bill is not seeking blanket exemption.

“Under the Constitution, every fundamental right has exceptions, they are not absolute. Section 35 says that if there is a national security issue, (threat to) public order, government agencies will be able to access your data and information.”

“ Section 35 is not an issue. I don't understand what the concern is on Section 12, and we will study it,” the minister assured while adding the “it makes sense for personal data and non-personal data to be regulated by a single data protection authority,”

Commenting on the ongoing IPO frenzy in the Indian markets, Chandrasekar noted that the Indian technology space hasn't seen large IPOs since the likes of Infosys and Wipro hit the markets 15 years ago. The energy and momentum coming out of the stock market is transformational and "the next big step will be public markets funding venture capital," he said.

His ministry is working on a significant digital governance project which will deepen the use of technology in governance, while the BharatNet project will bring 40-50 crore Indians on high -speed broadband making India the largest connected country in the world, he added.