A viral message on WhatsApp claims that all social media platforms – WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – will be monitored by the government. The viral forwarded text claims these “new communication rules for WhatsApp and WhatsApp calls (voice and video calls) will be implemented from tomorrow”. The viral message also asserts that the Facebook-owned company has implemented a new tick system, allowing users to find out if the messages they are sending are being checked by the government.
“Two blue ticks, and one red tick means the government can take action against, while three red ticks will mean that the government has started court proceedings against you.” The message claims WhatsApp has introduced new communication rules and is being shared at a time when the Facebook app has gone to court over the government of India’s new IT rules, which include a traceability clause. The viral message, which has the ‘forwarded many times label’ says once the new rules are implemented, all calls will be recorded and social media accounts will also be monitored. It says if a user shares a negative message against the government or on a religious issue, then you will get arrested. The message even claims that your devices will get “connected to the ministry system.”
The Central Government laid a few directions for the functioning of the social media platforms in the country as per the new IT rules. The Centre notified the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on February 25, 2021, to inter alia regulate the social media intermediaries by imposing a code of ethics and mandating a three-tier grievance redressal framework.
These Rules provide 16-due diligence steps to be followed by intermediaries in India. This includes an obligation to not host, store or publish any information which is prohibited by virtue of it not being in the interest of public order; decency or morality; sovereignty and integrity of India; security of the State; etc. The Rules also empower Centre to ask messaging platforms like ‘WhatsApp’, ‘Facebook messenger’, ‘Telegram’ to trace the ‘first originator of message’.
All intermediaries are required to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act. As per the Hindu, the intermediaries have urged the Government to include ‘safe harbor’ protection given to intermediaries under Section 79 of the IT Act, under the new rules.
The government on Wednesday issued a fresh advisory to all social platforms for compliance of its new IT guidelines. According to a notification released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, all Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMI) have been asked to share a response “as soon as possible” and “preferably today itself”.
Government through a separate notification has also presceibed that a social media intermediary having a fifty lakh (5 million) registered users in India will be considered a Significant Social Media Intermediary (SSMI). The Part-II of the rules broadly prescribe due diligence to be followed by:
- a) all intermediaries as defined in the IT Act 2000
- b) additional set of due diligence for SSMI
As per WhatsApp’s privacy policy, all calls and messages on the platform use end-to-end encryption, meaning that only the users present in a chat or a group can view and access shared messages. WhatsApp elaborates on its end-to-end encryption feature developed with Open Whisper Systems on its website too, guiding users to an in-depth explanation of the same. As per WhatsApp’s website, the platform only uses three kinds of check marks – single grey tick, which means that your message has been sent; double grey tick, which means the message has been delivered to the recipient’s phone; and double blue tick, meaning the message has been read.
The same text went viral previously as well, thus, this text has been on the internet for a few years and is reshared every now and then, with slight variations.
