Social media Intermediaries have serious obligation, responsibility under Indian laws: MoS Chandrashekar on Arshdeep online hate incident

New Delhi [India], September 7 : Social media intermediaries have serious obligations and responsibilities under Indian laws and the failure to observe due diligence could have consequences, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday while reacting to the online targeting of Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh.
The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) said that the government wanted all intermediaries to feel comfortable but they should also meet their responsibilities.
"We have made it clear to the intermediaries that if they want to remain intermediaries, they have a due diligence obligation towards content that is posted on their platforms and if they don't do that, there are consequences under the law that they will have to deal with," Chandrasekhar told ANI.
Arshdeep Singh faced vitriolic attacks on social media by some users after he dropped a crucial catch in a thrilling Super 4 Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Many handles in Pakistan also posted mischievous and misleading tweets.
"We do not necessarily want to threaten, we don't want any intermediary to feel uncomfortable working in India but we want to surely remind them that they have a serious obligation and responsibility under the Indian laws," he added.
The union minister had questioned social media companies for allowing misinformation on their platforms earlier as well.
"No intermediary operating in India can permit this type of misinformation n deliberate efforts to incitement n #userharm - violates our govts expectation of Safe & Trusted Internet," Chandrashekhar had tweeted.