NEW DELHI, 22 February (H.S.) : According to the Ministry

of Information and Broadcasting sources, the ministry will issue a code of

conduct for social media influencers. Apart from rating, influencers will also

have to give a disclaimer, as you might have seen in the beginning of the

films regarding intoxicants and violent scenes. The scope of obscenity,

lewdness and vulgarity will also be decided in the code of conduct through

rating. According to sources, rating in the code of conduct can be kept from

one to five.

The I & B Ministry

took serious note from the strict comments of the Supreme Court, the Central

Government is preparing to bring a code of conduct for social media

influencers. Influencers with 5 to 50 lakh followers will have to follow this

code. So that in future, shows like ‘India's Got Latent’ do not hurt the

sentiments of people across the country. It will also be mandatory to give

content rating to the influencers. The government is taking serious steps at

various levels regarding social media platforms and OTT content. Work-in-process

is drafting rules to keep children away from obscene and indecent content,

advisory for self-regulatory bodies of OTT platforms and drafting of Digital

India Bill.

The government is gearing

up to bring a code of conduct for social media influencers.So that through this initiative, influencers can keep

away vulgarity, obscenity, indecency and abuse from the content being made

public or make it clear by rating the content as to what is the level of the

posted or published content. There will be no apology for influencers with more

than 5 to 50 lakh followers and immediate action will be taken on complaints by

the concerned authority, police, administration or other agency.

On violation of the Code

of Conduct, action will be taken under the existing criminal laws and special

laws applicable in the country. This law has provisions for fine and

punishment. For influencers below 5 lakh, a warning is being considered for the

first offence, a fine for the second offence and legal action for the third. The

parliamentary committee had also raised questions on the obscenity spread on

social media. Whereas now the government has to answer before the Supreme Court

as to how vulgarity is allowed in the name of jokes on social media. What is

the government doing and what steps have been taken by them.

There will be provisions

in the new law to regulate YouTubers, digital platforms and social media users.

Work is going for about 15 months; opinion has been taken from experts to bring

specific provisions on all aspects.

Hindusthan Samachar / Meenakshi Bhattacharya