Centre stays Manipur govt's notice to website under new digital rules; power with GoI only

The Centre on Tuesday stepped in after the Manipur government issued a notice to a news website based in Imphal, under the new rules framed for digital media. Union Information and Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare wrote to the Manipur administration saying that powers to administer notices have not been delegated to state governments, police commissioners or District Magistrates under the new media laws.

'Powers not been delegated to...'

"The rules relating to news publishers and publishers of Online Curated Content (OTT) Platforms, including the Code of Ethics, the 3-Tier Grievances Redressal Mechanism, are to be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. These powers have not been delegated to the state governments or District Magistrate, or Police Commissioner," read Khare's letter to Manipur Chief Secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar. 

According to ANI, Imphal West District Magistrate Naorem Praveen on Monday served a notice to Manipuri talk show 'Khanasi Neinasi' under the new media laws notified by the Centre on February 25. The DM had served the notice to the Publisher/Intermediary of the talk show Khanasi Neinasi, directing the publisher to furnish to the DM all the relevant documents for ensuring compliance to the provisions of the Information Technology Rules, 2021. The notice also said, "failing which, steps as deemed fit would be initiated without further notice."

As per reports, the notice was sent to Kishore Chandra Wangkhem, who hosted the talk show, published via the Frontier Manipur on Facebook and YouTube. Wangkhem has also been jailed several times in the past three years by the Manipur government under charges of sedition. This was also the first notice served to a digital media organisation in the country after the Central government introduced the new rules.

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Govt tightens rules for social media

The 'Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code', that IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said are designed to curb misuse of social media platforms, requires WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other social media firms as well as streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video to appoint executives to coordinate with law enforcement, disclose the first originator of the mischievous information and remove, within 24 hours, content depicting nudity or morphed pictures of women.

Any contentious content flagged by the government or legal order has to be taken down quickly. Also, social media platforms on being asked by court or government will be required to disclose the first originator of the mischievous information that undermines the sovereignty of India, security of the state, or public order. The intermediary, however, will not be required to disclose the contents of any message.

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(With agency inputs)