In the digital era, the public at large depends on social media
for news, entertainment, etc. People's dependence on social
media is very dangerous at this time since there is a high risk of
it being abused. For this reason, a need was felt for stringent
rules for any form of communication of information via
intermediaries. Pursuant to this, the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology released the draft Information Technology
(Intermediary Guideline) Rules, 2018 for public consultation.
Consequently, on the 25 February of this year, the Government
issued the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and
Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The 2021 Rules replace the
Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011. The
earlier set of rules which were only applicable to intermediaries.
The new Rules also significantly broadened the area of intermediary
oversight, as well as bringing online news content and Over-The-Top
("OTT") platforms
