In contemporary times, the scope of media has expanded significantlybeyond traditional print formats. The emergence of various digitalplatforms, such as Orkut, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,has institutionalised social media platforms as a dominant force inhumaninteraction. While these social media platforms have a significantimpact on freedom of speech, economic interactions, and interpersonalcommunication, they have also created social-legal challenges, includinglegal concerns about the liability of content creators and social mediaplatforms for harm and unlawful content.Factually,social media isconsidered an intermediary and enjoysthe protective benefits of safeharbour. The immunity provided to it is subject to the fulfilment of variousconditions, such as acting as a neutral intermediary, following duediligence requirements, and adhering to the IT Rules 2021. In thisreference, the present studyexamines the changing Indian regulatoryframework related to accountability of social media in the case ofunlawful user-generated content shared through their platform. It alsocompares the Indian legislation and rules with the policy of the UnitedStates under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 1996,which gives immunity to digital platforms, and the Digital Services Act,2022,of the European Union on due diligence, which imposes stringentresponsibility on online intermediaries.
Shruti Kapoor (Thu,) studied this question.