Bill: Bill gives government powers to block Net platforms for data misuse | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill gives powers to the central government to order blocking of an internet platform (data fiduciary) when it is found to be engaging in repeated and serious violations on data handling, and these may not only include social media giants but also banks, insurance companies or those ones where citizen engagement remains high.

Interestingly, the bill also introduces a new clause of tagging a platform as a significant data fiduciary — with higher obligations/mandates around data-handling — in cases it poses “risk to electoral democracy”.
The new bill, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, also gives exemptions from the provisions of the data law to the government when it comes to certain specific situations.

“The provisions of this act shall not apply in respect of the processing of personal data by such instrumentality of the state as the central government may notify, in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, maintenance of public order or preventing incitement to any cognizable offence relating to any of these, and the processing by the central government of any personal data that such instrumentality may furnish to it,” the bill says.
On the issue of blocking orders, the bill stipulates this in extreme cases when a platform has been a repeated offender on serious violations. Even this, it says, would be done on the recommendations of the newly-formed Data Protection Board and after giving a chance to the platform to explain its position. The platform that may face such a stricture will be one that has been penalised by the Board in two or more instances.
The government came out with a new version of the bill after withdrawing an earlier bill on the matter. And while granting specific rights and protection to the privacy of online users, the bill also arms the government with powers to police content under certain circumstances.