Govt asks social media companies to delete fake accounts within 24hrs of notice

The move has come as part of the new IT Rules that came into force recently. The need to remove fake accounts has been linked to the misuse and privacy violations of other individuals. Fake social media accounts that impersonate celebrities, business, politicians or any other known personalities by using their pictures would be removed within 24 hours of complaint.

The central government has mandated social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to remove fake accounts, which impersonate known people, businesses or any other subscriber, within a time period of 24 hours after being notified by the user or someone on his/her behalf.

The move has come as part of the new IT Rules that came into force recently. The need to remove fake accounts has been linked to the misuse and privacy violations of other individuals.

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Fake social media accounts that impersonate celebrities, business, politicians or any other known personalities by using their pictures would be removed within 24 hours of complaint. The complainant can be the real and verified user or any other person on their behalf.

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Many persons use images of film actors, cricketers and other celebrities to increase their followers. The provision to tackle this menace has been indicated in the new IT rules and hence action will have to be taken once the company is notified.

For a long time, impersonators of known people, especially celebrities and politicians have created confusion and misunderstanding amongst social media users. An impersonator account can be used as a parody account, a fan account, or for other illegal motives like criminal and fake news scenarios. They create confusion by mimicking the original account to such an extent that the social media population believes them to be the original.

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These types of accounts even use morphed or original images that are available on the internet. They can be used to target someone, or illegally impersonate and create fake scenarios.

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The IT ministry’s diktat comes under the grievance redressal mechanism that has been prescribed for social media platforms and makes it contingent on the firms to remove any content around nudity, obscenity, and sexual act or conduct within 24 hours after receiving a complaint.

Fake accounts of celebrities are generally used as a homage by their fans to appreciate their work or to create fake news. However, it becomes a bigger nuisance for business around the world whose fake accounts are used for fraud purposes. The loss in such cases amounts to billions of dollars every year, the Times of India reported.

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Even though many social media platforms use a method called verification to distinguish between fake and real account, the general population still fall prey to the fake ones.

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