BJP MP says internet intermediaries imposing policies of one country on another

BJP MP from Karnataka Tejasvi Surya has demanded an independent algorithm audit to verify the claims made by social media intermediaries.

Surya, who is a member of the Parliamentary standing committee on IT, cited the example of Google. He said that the competitors like Paytm complained of an ‘unfair advantage’ to Google as it has its own Play Store to sell its products and applications.

"Paytm founder Vijayshekhar Sharma has claimed that Google gives priority to its in-house apps and products. They study others' products and develop their own products. This gave them an unfair advantage. But if you question them, they would claim it is a level-playing field. So, the only way to verify such claims is through algorithm audits. It is an evolving field, where both technology and law are chasing each other like Tom and Jerry. There is a lot to catch up with," said Surya, while taking part in a Clubhouse interaction on Tuesday evening.

Surya referred to the current row over Twitter India's "non-compliance" with Indian norms on the day the ministry of electronics and information technology opined that Twitter no longer enjoyed the 'safe harbour' protection accorded to internet intermediaries in India under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act for not complying with multiple norms. Surya reiterated that the social media intermediaries should not be regulating content on their platforms in order to enjoy the legal protection under Indian law.

"The intermediaries are like a blackboard where anyone is free to write anything on it, but the platform does not own it or is liable for the content. If a subscriber posts any offensive content on these social media platforms, he or she alone is liable for the consequences and not the platform. The IT Act provides this immunity (legal protection). But for an intermediary to get this conditional immunity, they need to follow certain rules. They should not meddle with the content. In other words, they should not exercise any editorial control over the content," explained Surya, who is also the national president of the BJP's Yuva Morcha.

Stating that Twitter had had several instances where it ‘de-platformed’ individuals after stating the content did not comply with the company’s policy, Surya said, "The intermediaries can function only as a blackboard. Since they don't own the content (posted by subscribers), they are not allowed to regulate the content. The ‘safe harbour’ protection will be extended to these platforms as long as they maintain the content neutrality.”

“A major allegation is that some platforms are violating the content neutrality. A second big concern is the arbitrariness of their decision to de-platform or remove content they consider as a violation of their policy. In fact, the internal (company) policy (of Twitter) is framed as per the laws of the United States of America. In essence, these intermediaries are imposing policies of one country on another sovereign nation,” Surya charge.

Recalling that the government, on February 26 this year, had rolled out the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, the Bengaluru South MP said, "The government had made certain amendments to safeguard the rights of the subscribers. As per the amendment, the platform required to give prior notice to the subscriber to remove any content and if there is any offensive content on any individual, he or she should be able to seek redressal from a grievance redressal officer, who operates out of a registered office in India. But most social media platforms have their offices abroad and there is no local address to which an aggrieved person can send a court notice. Now, these primary requisites have been fulfilled by Google, Facebook and WhatsApp. However, Twitter has still not complied with the norm."

In February, the government had sought social media intermediaries with more than 50 lakh users in India to appoint a resident grievance officer, a nodal contact person and a chief compliance officer based in India within May 26. While most social media intermediaries including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Telegram and WhatsApp complied with the norms, Twitter announced the appointment of Dharmendra Chatur as interim resident grievance officer, who subsequently resigned from Twitter. San Francisco-based Jeremy Kessel, the company’s senior director of global legal policy, replaced Chatur. However, this appointment does not comply with the IT Rules as he is not a resident in India, contended the Indian government. So, the government concluded that Twitter in India was no longer an “intermediary” and, therefore, cannot be provided the legal protection that is accorded to internet intermediaries.

"In a newspaper, the editor is made liable for any defamatory content. The same law is now being extended to the social media platforms to safeguard content neutrality," said Surya.