Indian Government has ordered Facebook, Twitter & other social media platforms to enable ‘Voluntary Verification’ for all users.
Amid growing threats of cybercrime, information leaks, bots, identity thefts on cyberspace and online frauds, among others, the Indian Government is known to be working towards curtailing these events, in order to prevent users from harm in a digital world.
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In one such recent development, the Central government has announced that social media platforms will now be insisted to allow users to verify their accounts voluntarily and once done, provide them with some visible confirmation of verification.
The Centre informed the Parliament that social media platforms will be needed to help users voluntarily verify their accounts and provide them with confirmation of the same, like visible marks of verification on their accounts.
The Minister of state for electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha that the Government is aware of the dangers and perils of the rising threats of misinformation and cyber criminality, along with a general users’ degree of exposure to it.
He stated that the government has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines And DigitalMedia Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021) for ensuring an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for users.
As per the rule 4(7) of the said Rules, the significant social media intermediaries shall enable users to voluntarily verify their accounts and such users’ accounts shall be provided with visible marks of verification, the minister said.
CERT-In has also issued directions under the provisions of sub-section (6) of section 70B of the IT Act, 2000 which cover aspects relating to subscriber/customer registrations details by data centres, Virtual Private Server (VPS) providers, VPN Service providers, etc.
The centre has also been working on the lines of protect cyberspace in India from anonymity and abuse, for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, and more.