India passes anti-deplatforming law for social media firms

The Indian government on Friday passed an amendment to the 2021 IT Rules that would allow a government panel to overrule social media suspensions, potentially forcing platforms like Twitter and Facebook to reinstate accounts that get kicked off for violating the sites’ guidelines.

The newly introduced Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, requires social media companies to submit to the authority of a “Grievance Appellate Committee” that the union government will set up by January 2023.

“Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Grievance Officer [of a social media company appointed under the IT Rules 2021] may prefer an appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee,” the amendment says, after which the company must comply with the panel’s order based on the appeal. Other language in the amendment requires platforms to comply with the Indian constitution.

This amendment essentially creates the opposite of an India-specific takedown. Companies like Twitter and Meta are required to restrict access to accounts or posts within India when ordered to do so by a court or by the IT Ministry (a power they have deployed readily to suppress criticism of the government).

Now, platforms may be required to reinstate accounts or posts that were taken down for breaking sitewide rules, something platforms will only be required to do within Indian territory: hence, the inverse takedown. This is a form of imposed speech on platforms, where a private intermediary’s own rules and regulations take a backseat to the government’s own decisions.

That’s not all: the government panel will also allow users to escalate complaints of tweets that they want suppressed to the government. This adds a potentially powerful tool to the arsenal of people who want to suppress outspoken voices, even if platforms decide that their posts do not violate Indian law or platform guidelines.

The amendment was proposed in June. In August, social media and tech companies held talks on creating a self-regulatory body at the industry level as an alternative to the government proposal, according to a Reuters report, but companies like Google reportedly voiced concerns about an external entity overruling their own decisions.

The combined effect of the IT Rules and Friday’s amendments are that the government has increased power over what content is visible on platforms, and whose voices can be silenced. While at least one social media platform — Twitter — has fought against government censorship orders, it is unclear if companies like Twitter and Meta will substantially challenge unfair orders in court.

For one, Meta has a close relationship with the government, with a retired IAS bureaucrat heading India policy. Twitter, which has been more willing to challenge censorship orders by the Indian government, was acquired this week by billionaire Elon Musk, who complained in a court filing that the company’s previous management made a “risky” decision by challenging censorship orders at the Karnataka High Court.