The new Bill will replace the Information Technology Act, 2000, which is currently India’s core legal framework that regulates entities on the Internet.
The introduction of online specific offences is anticipated to be a primary emphasis of the impending Digital India Bill, as the Centre works on a new framework for the Internet ecosystem to replace the two-decade-old Information Technology Act.
The Indian Express has learned that the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) may classify impersonation, identity theft, catfishing, and cyberbullying of children as offences under the new Bill, recognising that offences in the online world, particularly on social media platforms, can be unique and have no offline equivalent.
"The new Bill will place a strong emphasis on various user damages. "The ministry is thinking of making doxxing, gaslighting, impersonation, cyberbullying, and catfishing crimes," a senior government official stated. Catfishing is a phrase derived from online dating in which a user adopts a fake identity in order to pursue fraudulent online relationships.
The new Bill would replace India's present main legal framework for regulating businesses on the Internet, the Information Technology Act of 2000. Because the legislation was written before the era of social media and online dating services, the offences specified in the IT Act are virtually stolen from the offline world. There are presently no rules in India governing online damages.
MeitY is said to have gone out to more than 200 young people and parents for opinion on what they perceive a threat on the Internet in order to draught the Digital India Bill. "The goal is to modernise the legal framework, which requires us to ask a diverse collection of stakeholders about the damages they suffer on the Internet," the official explained.
The Indian Express stated in July that purposeful online misrepresentation and doxxing, or the harmful publication of private information about a specific individual on the internet, might potentially be categorised as online-specific offences.
Earlier this month, this publication revealed that MeitY is considering regulating a wide range of online platforms under the Digital India Bill, including social networking sites, e-commerce businesses, fact-checking portals, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based platforms.
As a result, it has the potential to reshape long-held assumptions about what an online middleman is. Traditionally, these platforms have been viewed as merely conduits for accessing Internet services, with little control over the information housed by them.
The IT Act makes no distinction between intermediaries. In 2021, MeitY issued Information Technology (IT) Rules, which for the first time established a separate categorization and set special laws for social media intermediaries. The ministry submitted draught revisions to these laws on Monday (January 2), in which it designated online gambling platforms as intermediaries as well, and recommended extra due diligence duties for them.
The Digital India Bill is also expected to establish a digital regulator similar to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), to impose penalties for violations, to prescribe governing provisions for emerging technologies such as the metaverse and blockchain, and to include provisions for algorithmic accountability of social media platforms.
The Indian Express has learned that the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) may classify impersonation, identity theft, catfishing, and cyberbullying of children as offences under the new Bill, recognising that offences in the online world, particularly on social media platforms, can be unique and have no offline equivalent.
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