Government mulls social media code of conduct for officials

The Indian government is considering a social media code of conduct for its officers and employees to prevent them from posting videos or opinions on undesirable subjects, according to official sources. The move follows amendments made on February 10 to the IT Rules 2021, which reduced content takedown time for sensitive matters to two hours from 24 hours, addressing harms from AI-generated content and deepfakes.

<p New Delhi: The government is likely to issue a <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/social-media" social media</a code of conduct for its officers and employees, amid the growing trend of staff posting reels, videos and personal opinions on platforms like X, Facebook and <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/instagram" Instagram</a , official sources said.</p .<p The issue was deliberated on at the highest levels of the government, which is now considering the code of conduct to prevent officials from posting videos or opinions on undesirable subjects across social media platforms.</p .<p Once the code of conduct is formulated, it will be issued and applicable to all officers and employees, irrespective of their ranks, the sources said.</p .Nepal battles misinformation as AI-generated visuals flood social media after disaster.<p However, it was not immediately known when the social media code would be issued and what the possible guidelines could be.</p .<p The move comes amidst growing incidents of officers posting content on social media, glorifying their work and position, which is not expected from government servants.</p .<p According to the sources, the need for a social media code of conduct was felt by the government as currently no such rules exist.</p .<p Last month, the government had slashed the online content takedown time for sensitive matters to two hours from the earlier 24 hours given to social media platforms.</p .<p The amendments were made on February 10 this year to the IT Rules 2021 to strengthen the regulatory framework to address harms arising from synthetically generated information SGI , including deepfakes and AI-generated content.</p .<p "Strengthening of timelines for compliance, including reduced timelines for removal of unlawful information upon actual knowledge upon valid reasoned intimation from the appropriate government or court orders timeline reduced from 36 hours to 3 hours and for grievance redressal including special categories such as nudity/impersonation etc timeline reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours and 24 hours to 2 hours for sensitive matters, respectively ," an official statement issued on August 6 said. </p <p New Delhi: The government is likely to issue a <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/social-media" social media</a code of conduct for its officers and employees, amid the growing trend of staff posting reels, videos and personal opinions on platforms like X, Facebook and <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/instagram" Instagram</a , official sources said.</p .<p The issue was deliberated on at the highest levels of the government, which is now considering the code of conduct to prevent officials from posting videos or opinions on undesirable subjects across social media platforms.</p .<p Once the code of conduct is formulated, it will be issued and applicable to all officers and employees, irrespective of their ranks, the sources said.</p .Nepal battles misinformation as AI-generated visuals flood social media after disaster.<p However, it was not immediately known when the social media code would be issued and what the possible guidelines could be.</p .<p The move comes amidst growing incidents of officers posting content on social media, glorifying their work and position, which is not expected from government servants.</p .<p According to the sources, the need for a social media code of conduct was felt by the government as currently no such rules exist.</p .<p Last month, the government had slashed the online content takedown time for sensitive matters to two hours from the earlier 24 hours given to social media platforms.</p .<p The amendments were made on February 10 this year to the IT Rules 2021 to strengthen the regulatory framework to address harms arising from synthetically generated information SGI , including deepfakes and AI-generated content.</p .<p "Strengthening of timelines for compliance, including reduced timelines for removal of unlawful information upon actual knowledge upon valid reasoned intimation from the appropriate government or court orders timeline reduced from 36 hours to 3 hours and for grievance redressal including special categories such as nudity/impersonation etc timeline reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours and 24 hours to 2 hours for sensitive matters, respectively ," an official statement issued on August 6 said. </p