Govt to enable citizens to file FIR against social media firms for IT rule violation

The government will assist citizens in filing FIR against social media platforms for violation of IT rules in case they are aggrieved from objectionable content like deep fakes.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) will develop a platform on which users can notify about IT rule violation by social media platforms.

“Meity will assist users to very easily notify it about violation of IT rules and assist them in filing FIRs,” the minister said.

He was speaking to the media after a meeting with social media platforms. “From today onwards there is zero tolerance for violation of IT rules,” Chandrasekhar said.

The FIR will be registered against the intermediary and if they disclose the details from where the content has originated then the FIR will be filed against the entity that has posted the content, the minister said.

He said that social media platforms have been given seven days time to align their terms of use, as per the IT rules.