Regulations on social media evoke divergent views from legal experts

The government’s new regulations for social media platforms and OTT players Thursday evoked divergent responses from legal experts with one section saying these would be valid till they contain reasonable restrictions while some opposed on grounds of infringement of privacy and free speech under the Constitution.

The Centre Thursday announced sweeping regulations for social media firms like Facebook and Twitter as well as OTT players such as Netflix, requiring them to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and setting up a complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in the country.