New Delhi: Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday that the government's guidelines for social media platforms would not change despite billionaire Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter. Speaking at the 'Raisina Dialogue 2022', Chandrasekhar stressed on the need to protect users' data privacy and safeguard them from any harm, IANS reported.
The Minister of State for Electronics and IT said the government's guidelines on social media intermediaries, including Twitter, would remain unchanged.
"Despite Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, IT guidelines governing the social media platforms remain the same. Social media needs to go beyond mere criminality and also expand focus on user harm when it comes to regulations," IANS quoted Chandrasekhar as saying.
The minister asserted that algorithmic biases exist and therefore, "we need to create a mechanism to ensure accountability on algorithmic coding".
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On Wednesday, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said if Twitter was found either interfering with free speech in India or the opposite by permitting hate speech and abuse, then the IT committee should take action. Tharoor heads the parliamentary committee on information technology
"On Elon Musk: Who owns which social media company is not our concern. What matters is what they do and how. If we find Twitter either interfering w/free speech in India, or the opposite (permitting hate speech and abuse) in our volatile environment, then the IT committee shld take action," Musk tweeted.
According to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, social media platforms are mandated to publish monthly transparency reports with details of complaints received from users in India and the actions taken.
Under the new IT rules, big digital and social media platforms -- with more than 5 million users -- have to publish monthly compliance reports.
Earlier this week, the Twitter board accepted Elon Musk's $44 billion offer and the Tesla CEO made it clear that he would promote 'free speech' on his platform going forward.
Musk has said that free speech was the "bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated".