New MeitY Advisory Seeks Prompt Removal Of Prohibited Content From Platforms

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued an advisory dated 3 September 2024 (Advisory) to 'intermediaries' emphasizing on the responsibility to take prompt action to remove any prohibited content from their platforms in order to meet due diligence obligations under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) read with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (Intermediary Guidelines).

Under the IT Act read with Rule 3 (1) of the Intermediary Guidelines, an 'intermediary' (which typically includes players like telecom operators, social media companies, cloud-hosting providers, etc.) is required to ensure that no illegal content, (like information infringing intellectual property or other proprietary rights of another person) is hosted on its platform. Additionally, the 'intermediary' is required to remove or disable such information as early as possible, but not later than 36 hours