A day after the Centre announced new guidelines to curb misuse of social media platforms, reports on Friday claimed that all social media accounts will be verified with a government ID through mobile phones within 3 months. This viral post on social media claims that in accordance with the new guidelines, within three months, all social media accounts need to be verified with a government ID.
Delhi High Court lawyer Prashant Patel Umrao also posted this claim on social media. On February 25, Umrao through his verified Twitter handle wrote, “All SM accounts need to be verified with a government ID through mobile phones within three months. Welcome step. Internet is safer & more responsible now. Govt announces intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021 to safeguard users’ rights. #ottguidelines”
However, the Centre refuted such claims and issued a fresh clarification saying that users who want to verify their accounts voluntarily will be provided an appropriate mechanism to do so. The Government of India has clarified that there is no mandatory requirement for citizens to verify their social media accounts. The new Digital Media Ethics Code was announced in a press conference chaired by Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) of India on its official Twitter handle shared a video of Ravi Shankar Prasad speaking about verification of social media accounts. The caption to the video read, “Users who wish to verify their accounts voluntarily shall be provided an appropriate mechanism to verify their accounts and provided with demonstrable and visible mark of verification: Union Minister.” Prasad can be heard saying that the social media platforms must have a voluntary verification mechanism put in place. Giving details, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that concerns have been raised about the rampant abuse of social media platforms and spread of fake news and the government is bringing in a “soft touch” regulation. As per the new guidelines from the Centre, social media intermediaries have to appoint grievance officer, who shall register complaints in 24 hours. Moreover, the grievance redressal official must be a resident in India, and monthly compliance reports will have to be filed by social media platforms. Furthermore, the government said that the social media platforms on being asked by court or government will be required to disclose the first originator of the mischievous information. The release also says the new “rules will come in effect from the date of their publication in the gazette” and the points under the Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary “shall come in effect 3 months after publication of these Rules.” Furthermore, the fact check division of PIB also confirmed strictly that the following viral claim is false.
