New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) Social media companies will have to remove contentious content flagged by government or court orders within 36 hours and take down posts depicting nudity or morphed photos within 24 hours of receiving a complaint, as per the latest intermediary rules announced on Thursday.

The move has been taken to make social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram - which has seen a phenomenal surge in usage over the past few years in India - more accountable and responsible for the content hosted on their platform.

As per the notification, the "intermediary" shall remove or disable access to information - which is prohibited under law to protect sovereignty of the country and public order - within 36 hours from the receipt of the court order or on being notified by government agencies.

Also, the intermediary will have to provide information and assistance to government agency involved in investigation within 72 hours of the receipt of a written order.

The rules require intermediaries to act fast on complaints made by an individual or someone on their behalf related to nudity, sexual act or impersonation in an electronic form (including morphed images). Social media platforms will have to remove such content within 24 hours, a provision that the government says is designed to uphold the respect and dignity of women.

Intermediary refers to those entities that enable online interaction between multiple users, and allows them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify or access information using its services.

The guidelines require social media intermediaries to appoint a resident grievance officer, who shall register complaints in 24 hours, and file monthly compliance reports. User grievances have to be resolved within 15 days.

Intermediaries will be required to preserve information and associated records for 180 days for investigation purposes, or for such longer period as may be required by the court or by government agencies.

India is a large market for digital and social media companies and is witnessing strong growth on the back of booming smartphone sales and the availability of dirt-cheap data. The country has 53 crore WhatsApp users, 44.8 crore YouTube users, 41 crore Facebook users, 21 crore use Instagram and 1.75 crore are on Twitter.

The new rules mandate messaging platforms like WhatsApp to enable identification of the "first originator" of the information that undermines sovereignty of India, security of the state, or public order. Intermediary will not be required to disclose content of message.

In cases where the "first originator" of such content is located outside the country, the new rules stipulate that the originator of the message within India will be held accountable as the "first originator" of the information.

If an intermediary fails to comply with the rules, safe harbour provisions will not be applicable and the entity will be liable for punishment under law.

The rules related to digital media - that cover OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and digital news publishers - state that the publisher will have to acknowledge a grievance/complaint within 24 hours. It will have 15 days for redressal of the grievance.

A Code of Ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism would be applicable for news publishers, OTT platforms and digital media. The three-tier mechanism includes self-regulation by the publishers (Level I); self-regulation by self-regulating bodies of publishers (Level II); and Oversight mechanism by the Central Government (Level III).

The self-regulating body of publishers - while disposing a grievance or an appeal referred to it - may issue a warning or censuring, or seek an apology from the publisher as well as ask them to reclassify ratings and make modification in the content descriptor, age classification and access control measures.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)