Accountability of Social Media Platforms

Context: Social media platforms are flooded with fake news, hate speech and other negative elements. They are being accused of manipulating views and opinions. Moreover owners of these platforms are found selling precious data. Several countries have come up with laws in the past few months to regulate powerful social media companies. Are these regulations working? Do social media platforms need more stringent laws? Will these regulations curb free speech?
Some important pointers about social media:

• Information and communication technology has changed rapidly over the past 20 years with a key development being the emergence of social media.
• Across the globe, mobile devices dominate in terms of total minutes spent online. This puts the means to connect anywhere, at any time on any device in everyone’s hand.
• These instruments have also been accused of being a carrier of hate messages and fake news that incited mob violence.
• And, now they stare at the prospects of stricter government rules, greater accountability, and regulatory scrutiny.

Key Points

• Restrictions on Processing and Collection of Personal Data: Processing (collection, recording, analysis, disclosure, etc.) of personal data should be done only for “clear, specific and lawful” purposes. Only that data which is necessary for such processing is to be collected from anyone.
• Processing of Personal Data for “Functions of the State”: Personal data may be processed by the government if this is considered necessary for any function of Parliament or State Legislature. This includes provision of services, issuing of licenses, etc. On the face of it, this looks extremely vague and could lead to misuse.
• Right to be Forgotten: Giving “data principals” (persons whose personal data is being processed) the ‘right to be forgotten’. This means they will be able to restrict or prevent any display of their personal data once the purpose of disclosing the data has ended, or when the data principal withdraws consent from disclosure of their personal data.
• Data Localization: Personal data will need to be stored on servers located within India, and transfers outside the country will need to be subject to safeguards. Critical personal data, however, will only be processed in India.
• Processing of Sensitive Personal Data to Require Explicit Consent: “sensitive” personal data (such as passwords, financial data, sexual orientation, biometric data, religion or caste) should not be processed unless someone gives explicit consent – which factors in the purpose of processing.
• Data Protection Authority: The Authority shall have the power to inquire into any violations of the data protection regime, and can take action against any data fiduciaries responsible for the same.

Have the media platforms acted in the past to remedy certain ills?

• Social networking platforms in 2018, not only made country-specific changes -- be it labeling forwarded messages, limiting the number of people a user can send a message to at one go and launching public awareness campaigns against fake news. They also agreed to store user data belonging to Indians within the country.
• Effect of Social Media on Politics: A new study from Pew Research claimed that 62 percent of people get their news from social media, with 18 percent doing so very often.
• Social media allows people to communicate with one another more freely, they are helping to create surprisingly influential social organizations among once-marginalized group. But a key question is whether the information being shared is "genuine” and if there has been any moderation whatsoever placed in its distributions network?
• While social media activism brings an increased awareness about societal issues, questions remain as to whether this awareness is translating into real change.
• Social media platforms have the potential to create division in society, incite violence, pose threat to India’s security or let foreign powers meddle in Indian elections.
• Considering the need for clear regulation of this sector, the government has drafted a bill on data protection. It has liberally utilized recommendations of the Justice BN Srikrishna committee's report.
• While the two issues (use of social media as a news platform and data protection) are two different issues, however it is to be aptly considered as intertwined. The absence of clear data protection norms will let the media platforms slip away from the havoc which the malicious news content may produce.

Road Ahead

• Facebook, Twitter and the WhatsApp have admitted that there is a scope for corrective measures and they would undertake these measures at the earliest.
• It would be worthy to see if these corrective actions are taken within the GDPR and Justice B.N. Srikrishna committee's report guidelines.
• The social media is a faceless leviathan. What it does has the capacity to impact millions. Within this context, it becomes all the more critical to evolve an ever encompassing and comprehensive framework to allow its run freely under competent accountability norms.