Digital platforms must take responsibility for content: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared that digital platforms must now take direct responsibility for the content they host to ensure the safety of all citizens. He urged them to wake up and understand their role in protecting society.

Union Minister of Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw has called for a fundamental shift in how digital platforms operate, asserting that they must now take direct responsibility for the content they host. Speaking at the DNPA Conclave, the Minister emphasised that the changing nature of the internet requires platforms to prioritise the safety of all citizens.

'Platforms Must Wake Up to Their Responsibility'

The Minister stated that platforms must wake up to their role in protecting society. "I will request that platforms must wake up, must understand the importance of reinforcing trust in the institutions which human society has created over thousands of years. Platforms must take the responsibility for the content that is hosted by them," he said. "The online safety of children, the online safety of all citizens is the responsibility of the platforms. Non-adherence to these principles will definitely make them responsible because the nature of Internet has changed now," he added.

Fair Revenue and Respect for Original Content

Talking about the fair revenue system for the content creators, Vaishnaw said, "I will request all the platforms to rethink their revenue-sharing policies because that is also one of the major concerns that the entire society today is raising. If this is not done voluntarily, then there are so many countries which have shown the path to get it done in a legal way."

The Minister also noted that the growth of science and arts depends on respecting original work. "The people who created copyrights, the people who created the original content, the society grew on the basis of that intellectual property. And if that intellectual property is not well respected and not fairly compensated, then the growth of the society, the growth of science, the growth of technology, the growth of arts, the growth of literature, that will all get stunted and the human growth which has happened over past thousands of years will get delayed, will get muted, will get stunted. That incentive for creating the original work and getting that fair compensation and fair appreciation from sections of the society, from the entire society, must be respected, must be valued," he said.

Furthermore, he also requested the platforms to "rethink their revenue-sharing policies because that is also one of the major concerns that the entire society today is raising. If this is not done voluntarily, then there are so many countries which have shown the path to get it done in a legal way."

Consent Required for AI-Generated Content

The Minister also called for an inflectional change regarding AI-generated content. "Synthetic content should not be generated without the consent of the person whose face or voice or personality has been used to create the content. Time has come to make that big inflectional change. And I will request the platforms to cooperate with this human society's basic need and the society which is today asking for this change has to be respected." (ANI)

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