Draft rules to regulate social media ready, Centre tells court

New Delhi, Sep 21: The Centre has informed the Madras High Court that deliberations on the Draft Information Technology [Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment)] Rules, 2018 has been completed. The rules mandate that the social media companies cooperate with the police in tackling cybercrime.

The process of notifying the rules is at an advanced stage, senior counsel for the central government, Venkataswamy informed the court. He said that the rules would solve the problems being faced by the police in gathering information from the social media firms.

The counsel said that the High Court could continue hearing the case without transferring it t the Supreme Court. He said that the only intention of the Centre was to ensure cooperation between the social media firms and the police and not with the linking of Aadhaar to users of the social media accounts.

On August 20, the Supreme Court had restrained the High Court from passing any effective order in the case. The HC was informed by Additional Government Pleader, E Manoharan that the State Government had filed an application to get the Supreme Court's interim order vacated. The matter would be taken up by the SC on September 24.