As it moves to curb the spread of deepfakes on the Internet, the Centre has warned big tech social media companies to modify their terms of use – the contract between the companies and their users – to clearly reflect the types of audio, video and text on their platforms that violate existing Indian laws, The Indian Express has learnt. During a meeting Tuesday with tech companies on dealing with deepfakes, the IT Ministry is also understood to be doubling down on the in-app reporting feature currently offered by social media companies by requiring them to treat user complaints at par with issues raised with their grievance officers. The meeting was chaired by Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The government believes that the terms of use of global social media companies like Meta and Google do not offer Indian users enough understanding of the types of content that violate specific laws of the country. While all major social media companies have their own community guidelines about what is and is not permissible on their platforms, people who post objectionable content are often unaware that they are breaking existing Indian laws and could be tried for them. The idea is that clearly showing the violations of current laws could act as a potential deterrent to users posting unlawful content on such platforms. “For instance, we want these companies to clearly state in their terms of use that posting child sexual abuse material is prohibited in India because it violates the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, or that impersonation is prohibited because it violates Section 419 of the Indian Penal Code,” a senior government official said. Google and Meta did not respond to requests for comment. The government also has a problem with the way social media companies are managing in-app complaints raised by users. The official said that the options to report content are “deliberately” kept vague to dissuade users from reporting content. During the meeting, Chandrasekhar is learnt to have told the platforms that they will also have to modify the in-app reporting feature by having a second option with clear references to the types of content that are prohibited online under the Information Technology Rules. These include content that contains pornography and misinformation, among other things. The government has also taken note of the way social media companies are handling user complaints within their app, where the issue is typically resolved through automated means with very little human intervention. “Any complaint made to the intermediary, whether through the in-app reporting or email address of the grievance officer, must be treated as a grievance with the grievance officer and not as a precursor to the complaint to the officer,” the official said. “It is not our concern whether a platform has used automated means or a human reviewer like a grievance officer to resolve a user’s complaint. A user should only complain about a piece of content on their platform once.” According to the official, social media companies have made it difficult for users to file a complaint with their grievance officer directly from their apps. This poses a challenge when users want to appeal the decision made by the app’s automated technology in front of the government appellate committees (GACs). The GACs rely on a valid ticket number to be able to register a user’s complaint against a platform’s decision. “Platforms generate a different complaint number when you report content directly on the app, and a different number if you take up the complaint with the GAC, making it challenging for the user to file appeals,” the official said.
