SRINAGAR: The Government of India on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that it is aware of incidents of rape threats, abusive trolling and organised harassment targeting women on social media platforms, and said intermediaries failing to curb such content could lose legal protections under the Information Technology Act.
Responding to an unstarred question raised by Smt. Jyotsna Charandas Mahant regarding trolling of women online, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada said the government is cognisant of the risks and harms arising from the misuse of digital technologies, including social media platforms, for online abuse and harassment of women.
The Minister stated that the Centre’s policy framework aims to ensure an “open, safe, trusted and accountable cyberspace” and highlighted the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, notified after public consultations and amended periodically to address emerging threats, including those linked to Artificial Intelligence tools.
Under the IT Rules, intermediaries are legally obligated to make reasonable efforts to prevent users from hosting or sharing content that is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of privacy, or insulting and harassing on the basis of gender. Such content must be removed within stipulated timelines.
Significant social media intermediaries are additionally required to deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools, to proactively detect and prevent unlawful material such as rape-related content and child sexual abuse material. They must also appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Resident Grievance Officer and a Nodal Contact Person to ensure adherence to the law.
The government said platforms must establish grievance redressal mechanisms to enable users to lodge complaints and appeal decisions if issues are not resolved satisfactorily within the prescribed time.
Importantly, the Minister noted that failure to observe these legal obligations could result in the loss of “safe harbour” protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, exposing intermediaries to prosecution and other legal consequences.
The reply also outlined provisions of the IT Act dealing with cybercrimes. Section 66C addresses identity theft and impersonation, including deepfakes; Section 66D criminalises cheating by personation using computer resources; Section 66E penalises capturing or transmitting private images without consent; and Sections 67A and 67B punish the publication or transmission of obscene material. Section 69A empowers authorities to issue blocking orders, while Sections 78 and 80 enable police investigation of offences.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, was also cited as providing safeguards for lawful processing of personal data while protecting individual rights.
The Ministry has issued multiple advisories to intermediaries, including on December 26, 2023, March 15, 2024, and December 29, 2025, reminding them of due diligence obligations and directing action against unlawful content, including malicious synthetic media and deepfakes.
Additionally, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs has operationalised the national cybercrime reporting portal and a toll-free helpline number 1930 for lodging complaints related to cyber offences.
The government, however, did not provide platform-wise complaint data in its written response.
