Government Said to Withdraw Letter to Apple Seeking Compliance on IT Rules

The authorities has reportedly withdrawn a letter it had despatched to Apple India in search of particulars on compliance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 — that are generally often called the brand new IT Rules — that got here into power earlier this 12 months. The letter is claimed to have been withdrawn after the federal government reached an understanding that Apple’s iMessage wouldn’t be thought of as a “social media intermediary”. The guidelines outline a social media middleman that “primarily or solely enables online interaction between two or more users and allows them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify, or access information using its services.”

On May 26, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) wrote a letter to all social media intermediaries in search of particulars of compliance with the brand new IT Rules. Apple was reportedly a kind of entities however is now claimed to be not amongst them.

Citing individuals aware of the matter, The Indian Express reports that the IT ministry discovered iMessage was “not primarily or solely an instant messaging service provider for enabling interaction between two or more people”. This is, nonetheless, opposite to how Apple markets its wealthy messaging service as the corporate highlights its performance of enabling interplay between iPhone, iPad, iPod contact, and Mac customers.

The IT Rules additionally define a social media platform as “a significant social media intermediary” that has greater than 5 million lively customers in India. Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn all come below that definition.

According to The Indian Express’ report, iMessage was additionally initially thought of amongst vital social media intermediaries contemplating it was discovered to have greater than 25 million lively customers within the nation. The MeitY, nonetheless, reportedly later reached a conclusion that since Apple’s service isn’t a standalone messaging app that may be downloaded on any machine, it isn’t being thought of as being “primarily or solely” an entity separate from the corporate.

“Unlike other messaging apps like, say, WhatsApp, can anyone download iMessage on their phone and use it? If that logic is to be applied, even food delivery platforms, and especially gaming platforms provide an option of chatting with other gamers. Should they also be considered a social media intermediary then? The answer is no,” a senior authorities official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Since the IT ministry is claimed to have withdrawn the letter it had despatched to Apple for compliance with the brand new IT Rules, it’s unclear whether or not Apple remains to be liable to supply traceability information of iMessage conversations, which is deemed to be one of many salient options of the regulation. The firm additionally appears to not be required to have native compliance, nodal, and grievance officers within the nation, as it isn’t thought of among the many vital social intermediaries.

Both MeitY and Apple did not reply to requests for a touch upon the matter on the time of submitting this story.