The ministry stressed that social media platforms must comply with their “duty of due diligence” under the IT Act and IT Rules, which require them to remove misinformation promptly.

The notice stated that intermediaries “must make reasonable efforts to prevent the dissemination of malicious content.”

The advisory was issued after a number of Indian airlines received false bomb threats over the past few days.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has issued an advisory to social media intermediaries, reminding them of their obligations under the IT Act and IT Rules following several false bomb threats against Indian airlines.

The ministry stressed that social media platforms must meet their “duty of due diligence” under the rules, which require them to quickly remove misinformation.

“…it is the responsibility of the concerned intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to promptly take necessary action under the IT Rules, 2021 by not authorizing any user to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit , store, update or share. any illegal or false information,” MeitY said.

Additionally, the notice stated that intermediaries “must make reasonable efforts to prevent the dissemination of malicious content,” adding that failure to comply could result in the loss of liability protections under Section 79 of the IT Act.

He also mentioned that in addition to removing or disabling access to misinformation, intermediaries have an additional responsibility under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, to compulsorily report certain offenses perceived to be committed by any user of their platform, “which includes, among other things, any action with the intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of India”.

This development came days after the central government » asked the social media platforms like Meta and X to provide the data of the people behind the bomb threats.

Previously, the government had ordered micro-blogging platform “X” to take measures to curb rumors spreading on the platform.

At the heart of this development are more than 150 Indian flights that have received bomb threats in recent days.

Notably, earlier this year, in a similar development, the IT Ministry reportedly considered blocking end-to-end encrypted email service ProtonMail. The company had previously removed its physical servers from India in response to the country’s “new surveillance law.”