The Central Government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the petitions filed in various High Courts challenging the IT Rules to the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court (file photo)
The Center on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of petitions challenging the validity of new Information Technology (IT) rules in various High Courts of the country to the Supreme Court. Now the Supreme Court has accepted the application of the Central Government for hearing.
The Supreme Court has refused to stay the ongoing hearing in the Delhi High Court on a plea by some media organizations challenging the IT Rules. Petitions challenging the IT rules have been filed in the Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Kerala High Courts.
Several petitions challenging the Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules, 2021 are pending in various High Courts including the Delhi High Court. Pending petitions in the high courts have challenged the new IT rules brought in by social media firms like Facebook, Twitter as well as those aimed at regulating OTT platforms.
What are the new IT rules
Under the new IT rules, it is necessary to appoint a Grievance Officer in major social media companies to deal with the complaints of Indian users. Under the new rules, the legal relief given to this microblogging platform as an intermediary has expired and as such, it will be liable for any illegal post posted by the user. The new rules have come into effect from May 26 and Twitter, even after the lapse of the given additional time, has not appointed officers, which takes away the immunity given to it.
The digital sector giant is having a conflict with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The Indian government has criticized the country’s new IT rules for deliberately ignoring and failing to comply with the rules despite being told several times.
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