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New IT rules 'make sense', says Facebook India MD

Facebook’s agreement comes when the government is engaged in a conflict with Twitter over adherence to new laws.
Last Updated 30 June 2021, 07:54 IST

A day after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology asked Facebook and Google to comply with the new IT rules of India, social media giant Facebook agreed to them saying that it “makes sense”.

“The (Indian) government wants to limit the misuse and abuse of social media platforms by bad actors, and that is an agenda that we are entirely aligned with,” Ajit Mohan, Facebook India MD, told The Times Of India.

In this fresh statement, Mohan’s views representing Facebook look aligned to IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's, who had also told that IT rules “empower the users of social media when they become victims of abuse and misuse”. Earlier the internet giant had termed the government’s move as “a legitimate scrutiny”.

Facebook’s agreement to India’s new IT rules comes when the Indian government is engaged in a conflict with the microblogging site Twitter over adherence to the new laws.

“The agenda of safety and security online is an important agenda for us, especially in a country where we have 700 million people online. I think it makes sense to have a framework for accountability and for having rules around harmful content,” Mohan told the publication.

Meanwhile, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has challenged the government’s rule of compulsory traceability of “unlawful” messaging in the High Court of Delhi.

“In fact, over the last few years, as a company, we have invested a lot in this area. Ensuring the safety of our users and keeping harmful content off our platforms takes up a remarkable amount of resources and investments, billions of dollars every year and a significant investment in headcount, all focussed on keeping harmful content off our platform,” he added.

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(Published 30 June 2021, 05:27 IST)

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