Telegram app has been asked to furnish details of its grievance redressal system for producers, OTT platforms, and law-enforcement agencies.
The government of India has issued a notice to messaging platform Telegram, asking it to take action within 15 days over “widespread dissemination of pirated films, OTT content and other audio-visual material”.
Telegram has been asked to strengthen systems for detection, reporting, disabling access to and removal of pirated films and infringing audio-visual content, according to the I&B ministry notice issued on Saturday.
The action has been taken to protect India’s creator economy, film industry, broadcasters, OTT platforms, producers, and distributors.
Telegram has also been directed to act against what the I&B ministry described as repeat infringers, including channels, groups, bots, accounts, administrators and associated entities.
The popular messaging app has been asked to furnish details of its grievance redressal system for producers, OTT platforms, and law-enforcement agencies, with a 15-day deadline submit an Action Taken Report on the steps taken to prevent, detect and remove pirated content from the platform.
Stern message
The communication comes as a signal of a clear shift from piecemeal takedown to platform accountability. The Government earlier acted against over 3,000 Telegram channels carrying pirated content.
The I&B ministry notice reminded Telegram that, as an intermediary, it is required to observe due diligence under the IT Act and IT Rules.
The ministry has made it clear that Telegram cannot merely wait for Government to identify each piracy channel one by one, according to the notic.
“A purely reactive, channel-by-channel takedown approach may not be enough to show due diligence by the platform as required under the IT Act, 2000 and IT Rules, 2021”.
The I&B ministry of underlined that copyright infringement is not merely a civil violation, but a criminal offence in India under the Copyright Act, 1957 and Cinematograph Act, 1952.
Telegram was recently banned in India till June 22 — a block that was seen as an attempt to prevent any possible irregularities ahead of the June 21 re-exam of NEET-UG, which was originally held on May 3 but got cancelled on May 12 after overlaps emerged between a leaked guess paper and the actual one, triggering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and 13 arrests.
NEET (UG) is the nationwide entrance examination conducted by the NTA for admission in undergraduate medical programmes.
The government-imposed block on Telegram, used widely by students to share study material, later reached the Delhi high court, which on June 19 upheld upheld the government’s decision to block Telegram for six days ahead of NEET-UG re-exam.
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