Taking into consideration the new IT rules announced by the government of India on Thursday, the Supreme Court of India will stop using WhatsApp groups to share video conference links for court hearings.

As an alternative, such links will be shared on authenticated e-mail IDs and registered mobile numbers of the concerned advocates-on-record or party-in-person.

As per the circular issued by the apex court on Saturday, this step has been taken in view of the recently notified Information Technology (guidelines for intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021).

#SupremeCourt will not be creating any @WhatsApp groups for sharing #virtualcourt links with Advocate on Records and other parties from March 1 in view of the new regulations concerning social media apps and OTT platforms. Links to be shared via email & sms henceforth @rsprasad pic.twitter.com/vPvR9uXRUV

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) February 27, 2021

The circular will become effective from March 1, 2021. On Thursday (February 25) union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar addressed a press conference at National Media Centre in New Delhi to announce the Centre’s new guidelines for digital news organisations, and code of ethics for social media and OTT (over the top) platforms.

The rules drafted pursuant to the powers provided by Section 79(2)(c) and Section 69A(2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The rules offer for classification of films and other entertainment programmes, including web series.

Apart from this, it aims to bring digital news platforms within the realm of guidelines covering print and electronic media and seeks to rein in social media intermediaries.

As per the new Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have to delete or disable argumentative content within 24 hours. Ravi Shankar Prasad, law and IT minister, laid out the guidelines on Thursday.

He stated that posts on offences pertaining to sovereignty of India, security, relations with other states and rape must be deleted. He also added that if a user’s content is restricted, the person must be given the explanations why it was done. Apart from this, he said that users must be offered a platform to resolve complaints in a time bound manner.

(Edited by : Jomy)