India: Govt willing to enforce tougher rules on social media if political parties agree

The Indian government is willing to bring tougher rules to ensure social media platforms are accountable and ensure citizens' safety on the internet if there is consensus among political parties in parliament, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the electronics and IT minister said on Friday.

Responding to calls for more accountability from social media, the minister said the government takes action on the basis of reports by the computer emergency response team or the ministry.

"There is also a central portal where such cases can be registered and forwarded to the relevant law enforcement agency," he said. "I agree with you that we have to come forward as a society and create greater accountability."

Vaishnaw asserted that if there is parliamentary consensus, "we are willing to provide even stricter social media rules. I personally believe that for the protection of our citizens, we must make the rules stricter."

He noted that whenever the government tried to regulate social media, "the Opposition says we are attacking freedom of speech. We need to bring a consensus to create an accountable social media ecosystem where women can feel safe."

Last week, the government had asked social media intermediaries how they were tackling fake news, anti-India content and other controversial issues on their platforms.

"We explained to them the entire process of how, despite employing the available mechanisms for content review, some of it manages to escape the scrutiny of algorithms and machines," an executive who attended the meeting told the media.

"While we are always working on improving the process, some of the content will always have to be flagged for takedown," added another executive.