TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
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....re, through which access to online curated content may be restricted based on verification of the identity or age of a user; (b) 'access services' means any measure, including technical measure such as closed captioning, subtitles and audio descriptions, through which the accessibility of online curated content may be improved for persons with disabilities; (c) 'Act' means the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000); (d) 'child' means any person below the age of eighteen years; (e) 'committee' means the Inter-Departmental Committee constituted under rule 14; (f) 'communication link' means a connection between a hypertext or graphical element, and one or more items in the same or different electronic document wherein upon clicking on a hyperlinked item, the user is automatically transferred to the other end of the hyperlink which can be another electronic record or another website or application or graphical element; (g) 'content' means the electronic record defined in clause (t) of section 2 of the Act; (h) 'content descriptor' means the issues and concerns w....
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....demand' means a system where a user, subscriber or viewer is enabled to access, at a time chosen by such user, any content in electronic form, which is transmitted over a computer resource and is selected by the user; (q) 'online curated content' means any curated catalogue of audio-visual content, other than news and current affairs content, which is owned by, licensed to or contracted to be transmitted by a publisher of online curated content, and made available on demand, including but not limited through subscription, over the internet or computer networks, and includes films, audio visual programmes, documentaries, television programmes, serials, podcasts and other such content; (r) 'person' means a person as defined in sub-section (31) of section 2 of the Income tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961); (s) 'publisher' means a publisher of news and current affairs content or a publisher of online curated content; (t) 'publisher of news and current affairs content' means an online paper, news portal, news aggregator, news agency and such other entity called by whatever name, which is functionally similar to publishers o....
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....ence while discharging its duties, namely :- (a) the intermediary shall prominently publish on its website, mobile based application or both, as the case may be, the rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement for access or usage of its computer resource by any person; (b) the rules and regulations, privacy policy or user agreement of the intermediary shall inform the user of its computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that,- (i) belongs to another person and to which the user does not have any right; (ii) is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another's privacy, including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, libellous, racially or ethnically objectionable, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise inconsistent with or contrary to the laws in force; (iii) is harmful to child; (iv) infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights; (v) violates any law for the time being in force; (vi) deceives or misleads the addressee about th....
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....uch information is hosted, stored or published, the intermediary shall remove or disable access to that information, as early as possible, but in no case later than thirty-six hours from the receipt of the court order or on being notified by the Appropriate Government or its agency, as the case may be: Provided also that the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link within the categories of information specified under this clause, under clause (b) on a voluntary basis, or on the basis of grievances received under sub-rule (2) by such intermediary, shall not amount to a violation of the conditions of clauses (a) or (b) of sub-section (2) of section 79 of the Act; (e) the temporary or transient or intermediate storage of information automatically by an intermediary in a computer resource within its control as an intrinsic feature of that computer resource, involving no exercise of any human, automated or algorithmic editorial control for onward transmission or communication to another computer resource shall not amount to hosting, storing or publishing any information referred to under clause (d); (f) the intermediary sha....
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....evelop, produce, distribute or employ technological means for the purpose of performing the acts of securing the computer resource and information contained therein; (l) the intermediary shall report cyber security incidents and share related information with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team in accordance with the policies and procedures as mentioned in the Information Technology (The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and Manner of Performing Functions and Duties) Rules, 2013. (2) Grievance redressal mechanism of intermediary: (a) The intermediary shall prominently publish on its website, mobile based application or both, as the case may be, the name of the Grievance Officer and his contact details as well as mechanism by which a user or a victim may make complaint against violation of the provisions of this rule or any other matters pertaining to the computer resources made available by it, and the Grievance Officer shall - (i) acknowledge the complaint within twenty four hours and dispose off such complaint within a period of fifteen days from the date of its receipt; (ii) receive and acknowledge any order, notice or direction issued....
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....tions made in accordance with the provisions of law or rules made thereunder. Explanation.- For the purposes of this clause "nodal contact person" means the employee of a significant social media intermediary, other than the Chief Compliance Officer, who is resident in India; (c) appoint a Resident Grievance Officer, who shall, subject to clause (b), be responsible for the functions referred to in sub-rule (2) of rule 3. Explanation.- For the purposes of this clause, "Resident Grievance Officer" means the employee of a significant social media intermediary, who is resident in India; (d) publish periodic compliance report every month mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon, and the number of specific communication links or parts of information that the intermediary has removed or disabled access to in pursuance of any proactive monitoring conducted by using automated tools or any other relevant information as may be specified; (2) A significant social media intermediary providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information on its computer....
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....ed, owned, or exclusively controlled, as the case may be, or shall make it identifiable as such in an appropriate manner. (4) A significant social media intermediary shall endeavour to deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools or other mechanisms to proactively identify information that depicts any act or simulation in any form depicting rape, child sexual abuse or conduct, whether explicit or implicit, or any information which is exactly identical in content to information that has previously been removed or access to which has been disabled on the computer resource of such intermediary under clause (d) of sub-rule (1) of rule 3, and shall display a notice to any user attempting to access such information stating that such information has been identified by the intermediary under the categories referred to in this sub-rule: Provided that the measures taken by the intermediary under this sub-rule shall be proportionate having regard to the interests of free speech and expression, privacy of users on the computer resource of such intermediary, including interests protected through the appropriate use of technical measures: Provided further that such interm....
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....or communication link using its services with a notification explaining the action being taken and the grounds or reasons for such action; (b) ensure that the user who has created, uploaded, shared, disseminated, or modified information using its services is provided with an adequate and reasonable opportunity to dispute the action being taken by such intermediary and request for the reinstatement of access to such information, data or communication link, which may be decided within a reasonable time; (c) ensure that the Resident Grievance Officer of such intermediary maintains appropriate oversight over the mechanism for resolution of any disputes raised by the user under clause (b). (9) The Ministry may call for such additional information from any significant social media intermediary as it may consider necessary for the purposes of this part. 5. Additional due diligence to be observed by an intermediary in relation to news and current affairs content.- In addition to adherence to rules 3 and 4, as may be applicable, an intermediary shall publish, on an appropriate place on its website, mobile based application or both, as the case may be, a clear and con....
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....r the time being in force including the provisions of the Act and the Indian Penal Code. PART III CODE OF ETHICS AND PROCEDURE AND SAFEGUARDS IN RELATION TO DIGITALMEDIA 8. Application of this Part.- (1) The rules made under this Part shall apply to the following persons or entities, namely :- (a) publishers of news and current affairs content; (b) publishers of online curated content; and shall be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, which shall be referred to in this Part as the "Ministry": Provided that the rules made under this Part shall apply to intermediaries for the purposes of rules 15 and 16; (2) the rules made under this Part shall apply to the publishers, where,- (a) such publisher operates in the territory of India; or (b) such publisher conducts systematic business activity of making its content available in India. Explanation.- For the purposes of this rule,- (a) a publisher shall be deemed to operate in the territory of India where such publisher has a physical presence in the territory of India; (b) "systematic activity" shall mean any stru....
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....egulating body of which such publisher is a member within fifteen days of receiving such a decision. (d) the self-regulating body shall address the grievance referred to in clauses (b) and (c), and convey its decision in the form of a guidance or advisory to the publisher, and inform the complainant of such decision within a period of fifteen days .. (e) where the complainant is not satisfied with the decision of the self-regulating body, it may, within fifteen days of such decision, prefer an appeal to the Oversight Mechanism referred to in rule 13 for resolution. CHAPTER II SELF REGULATING MECHANISM - LEVEL I 11. Self-Regulating mechanism at Level I.- (1) The publisher shall be the Level I of the self- regulating mechanism. (2) A publisher shall- (a) establish a grievance redressal mechanism and shall appoint a Grievance Officer based in India, who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by him; (b) display the contact details related to its grievance redressal mechanism and the name and contact details of its Grievance Officer at an appropriate place on its website or interface, as the case may be; (c....
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....n accordance with sub-rule (2) and has agreed to perform the functions laid down in sub-rules (4) and (5). (4) The self-regulating body shall perform the following functions, namely :- (a) oversee and ensure the alignment and adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics; (b) provide guidance to publishers on various aspects of the Code of Ethics; (c) address grievances which have not been resolved by publishers within the specified period of fifteen days; (d) hear appeals filed by the complainant against the decision of publishers; (e) issue such guidance or advisories to such publishers as specified in sub-rule (5) for ensuring compliance to the Code of Ethics. (5) The self-regulating body while disposing a grievance or an appeal referred to it in sub-rule (4) may issue following guidance or advisories to the publishers as under, namely :- (a) warning, censuring, admonishing or reprimanding the publisher; or (b) requiring an apology by the publisher; or (c) requiring the publisher to include a warning card or a disclaimer; or (d) in case of online curated content, direct the publisher to,- ....
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....l Committee.- (1) The Ministry shall constitute an Inter- Departmental Committee, called the Committee, consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and such other Ministries and Organisations, including domain experts, that it may decide to include in the Committee: Provided that the Authorised Officer designated under sub-rule (2) of rule 13 shall be the Chairperson of such Committee. (2) The Committee shall meet periodically and hear the following complaints regarding violation or contravention of the Code of Ethics by the entities referred to in Rule 8- (a) arising out of the grievances in respect of the decisions taken at the Level I or II, including the cases where no such decision is taken within the time specified in the grievance redressal mechanism; or (b) referred to it by the Ministry. (3) Any complaint referred to the Committee, whether arising out of the grievances or referred to it by the Ministry, shall be in....
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....priate decision. (2) The Authorised Officer shall, on approval of the decision by the Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, direct the publisher, any agency of the Government or any intermediary, as the case may be to delete or modify or block the relevant content and information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in their computer resource for public access within the time limit specified in the direction: Provided that in case the recommendation of the Authorised Officer is not approved by the Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Authorised Officer shall convey the same to the Committee. (3) A direction under this rule may be issued only in respect of a specific piece of content or an enumerated list of content, as the case may be, and shall not require any entity to cease its operations. 16. Blocking of information in case of emergency.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in rules 14 and 15, the Authorised Officer, in any case of emergency nature, for which no delay is acceptable, shall examine the relevant content and consider whether it is within the grounds referred to in sub-section (1) of section 69A of the ....
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....ose of this rule, "Review Committee" shall mean the Review Committee constituted under rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951. CHAPTER V FURNISHING OF INFORMATION 18. Furnishing of information.- (1) A publisher of news and current affairs content and a publisher of online curated content operating in the territory of India, shall inform the Ministry about the details of its entity by furnishing information along with such documents as may be specified, for the purpose of enabling communication and coordination. (2) The information referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be furnished within a period of thirty days of the publication of these rules, and where such publisher begins operation in the territory of India or comes into existence after commencement of these rules, within thirty days from the date of start of its operations in the territory of India or its coming into existence, as the case may be. (3) The publisher of news and current affairs content and the publisher of online curated content shall publish periodic compliance report every month mentioning the details of grievances received and action taken thereon. (4) The Ministry may call for such addi....
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....context and exercise due caution and discretion when featuring the activities, beliefs, practices, or views of any racial or religious group. (B) Content Classification (i) All content transmitted or published or exhibited by a publisher of online curated content shall be classified, based on the nature and type of content, into the following rating categories, namely :- (a) Online curated content which is suitable for children as well as people of all ages shall be classified as "U" rating; (b) Online curated content which is suitable for persons aged 7 years and above, and can be viewed by a person under the age of 7 years with parental guidance, shall be classified as "U/A 7+" rating; (c) Online curated content which is suitable for persons aged 13 years and above, and can be viewed by a person under the age of 13 years with parental guidance, shall be classified as "U/A 13+" rating; (d) Online curated content which is suitable for persons aged 16 years and above, and can be viewed by a person under the age of 16 years with parental guidance, shall be classified as "U/A 16+" rating; and (e) Online curated content whi....
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....TERTAINMENT PROGRAMMES, INCLUDING WEB BASED SERIALS There are general factors that may influence a classification decision at any level and in connection with any issue and the following factors are elucidated which may be read along with Part II of the Guidelines - (a) Context: Curated content may be considered in the light of the period depicted in such content and the contemporary standards of the country and the people to which such content relates. Therefore, the context in which an issue is presented within a film or video may be given consideration. Factors such as the setting of a work (historical, fantasy, realistic, contemporary etc.), the manner of presentation of the content, the apparent intention of the content, the original production date of the content, and any special merits of the work may influence the classification decision. (b) Theme: Classification decisions may take into the theme of any content but will depend significantly on the treatment of that theme, especially the sensitivity of its presentation. The most challenging themes (for example, drug misuse, violence, pedophilia, sex, racial or communal hatred or violen....