Government working on Digital India law for online platforms: Union Minister

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said the government is working on a Digital India Act to include new rules to curb Internet-supported dissemination of illegal, criminal and child sexual abuse material.

Addressing a conference on ‘Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)’ organized by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) at Vigyan Bhawan here, the Minister of State electronics and information technology, said it would Internet service provider (ISPs) and other intermediaries are more liable for hosting objectionable content.

He said that the current information technology act Does not address the challenges of the present day. “Hence, the government framed the IT Rules, 2021 and amended it in 2022 to make intermediaries liable, and it is also proposing to bring a digital technology law,” Chandrasekhar said.

The minister said that the government is committed to encourage people to use internet as a tool for their empowerment, but it also wants it to be safe and reliable. He said that it is imperative for intermediaries being service providers to remove illegal and criminal content.

government is working on a Digital India Act Chandrasekhar said the inclusion of new rules to prevent Internet-aided circulation of illegal, criminal and child sexual abuse material and also cover online gaming.

He said that the weight of the lobby for free expression and privacy cannot be a cow for criminality. “Even if a person is anonymous, intermediaries must disclose the originator of such content. The Internet which was once seen as a tool for empowerment of people has turned into an ecosystem that thrives on criminality and illegality , which is an all-time high now,” Chandrasekhar said.

However, he also said that CSAM is a result of something happening outside the internet, which needs to be addressed under separate provisions of the law.