Mutual comity and respect between social media intermediaries and national governments are necessary to democratize cyberpolitics in the interest of users. Discuss.

The recently tabled draft Data Protection Bill and IT Rules Amendment Act, 2021 have led to areas of contestation between social media intermediaries and the government - not limited to India alone. Areas of Concern: 1. Social media intermediaries have complained of: • Excessive oversight by governments • Curbs on freedom of speech on platforms • Requests for banning, de-platforming of users (Twitter in USA) 2. Governments have complained of: • Hate speech, pornography on these platforms • Law and order situations arising as a result of fake news spreading • Arbitrary banning of users • Non-traceability of lost messages • Compliance with data localization and privacy norms Both parties have legitimate concerns, hence it is important to find common ground to ensure users' interests are not compromised.

Governments encroaching on business models (IT Rules requiring WhatsApp to trace source of message against policy of end-to-end encryption). On the other hand, 2. Governments have complained of: • Hate speech, pornography on these platforms • Law and order situations arising as a result of fake news spreading • Arbitrary banning of users • Non-traceability of lost messages • Compliance with data localization and privacy norms Both parties have legitimate concerns, hence it is important to find common ground to ensure users' interests are not compromised.