{"id":31387,"date":"2025-03-22T08:40:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T03:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31387"},"modified":"2025-04-16T11:33:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T06:03:37","slug":"section-79-of-it-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/section-79-of-it-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 79 of the IT Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Section 79 of the IT Act Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Elon Musk-Owned X Challenges Government Over IT Act Provisions<\/p>\n<h2>What is the IT Act, 2000?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000<\/strong> is <strong>India\u2019s primary law<\/strong> governing <strong>cyber activities, digital transactions, and electronic governance<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It provides a <strong>legal framework<\/strong> for:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cybersecurity<\/strong> and protection against cybercrimes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Digital signatures<\/strong> and electronic authentication.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Data protection<\/strong> and regulation of intermediaries (social media platforms, search engines, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Act was <strong>amended in 2008 and 2015<\/strong> to address evolving cyber challenges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Legal Framework: IT Act, 2000 &amp; Key Provisions<\/h2>\n<h3>Section 69A \u2013 Content Blocking Power<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Empowers the government to block access to online information in the <strong>interest of sovereignty, security, and public order, or to prevent incitement to an offence.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Requires written orders and procedural safeguards<\/strong> before action is taken.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Upheld by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India (2015)<\/strong>, which recognized its safeguards against misuse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Section 79 \u2013 Intermediary Liability (&#8220;Safe Harbour&#8221; Provision)<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Grants immunity to digital platforms (intermediaries) from liability<\/strong> for third-party content, provided they act as neutral hosts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Section 79(3)(b)<\/strong>: Intermediaries <strong>lose immunity<\/strong> if they fail to remove unlawful content <strong>upon government notification<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shreya Singhal Ruling (2015)<\/strong>: The <strong>SC clarified that intermediaries must comply with court or government orders<\/strong> based on <strong>Article 19(2) restrictions<\/strong> (such as national security, defamation, incitement to violence, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Sahyog Portal<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>An online platform<\/strong> developed for <strong>automating the issuance of content removal notices<\/strong> to intermediaries under the <strong>Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ministry involved<\/strong>: Managed by the <strong>Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objectives:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ensure swift and coordinated action<\/strong> against unlawful digital content.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enhance monitoring and compliance<\/strong> with cyber laws.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Create a secure digital environment<\/strong> for Indian citizens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key functions:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Brings together government agencies and digital intermediaries<\/strong> on a single platform.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Facilitates issuance, tracking, and monitoring<\/strong> of content removal notices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enhances transparency and accountability<\/strong> in digital content regulation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Section 79 of the IT Act FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.<\/strong> What is Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> Section 79 of the IT Act provides a safe harbour to intermediaries (such as social media platforms, e-commerce websites, and internet service providers) by exempting them from liability for third-party content, provided they follow legal due diligence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.<\/strong> Who qualifies as an intermediary under Section 79?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> An intermediary is any entity that stores, transmits, or provides access to information on behalf of others, including search engines, telecom networks, online marketplaces, and social media platforms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3.<\/strong> Does Section 79 protect intermediaries in all cases?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> No. Immunity is revoked if the intermediary actively participates in content creation, does not follow government orders, or fails to remove illegal content after receiving notice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/it-act-content-blocking-why-x-has-challenged-govts-use-of-section-79-9899231\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Section 79 of the IT Act provides a safe harbour to intermediaries from liability for third-party content, provided they act as neutral hosts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}