Section 79 of the IT Act
Safe Harbour and Platform Accountability
Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is the bedrock of platform liability law in India. It provides that an intermediary shall not be liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available by it, subject to conditions: the intermediary must not have initiated the transmission, must not have selected the receiver, must not have modified the information, must comply with actual knowledge-based takedown requests, and must comply with government orders.
- The "safe harbour" model, mirrored from the US's Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, is essential to the business model of social media platforms, news aggregators, and user-generated content platforms.
- IT Rules 2021's three-tier grievance mechanism adds compliance conditions for "significant social media intermediaries" (over 5 million users) — they must appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person, and Grievance Officer, all India-resident.
- The FCU provision effectively converts government content flags into mandatory takedown triggers, bypassing the judicial process — which critics argue subverts Section 79's "actual knowledge" standard.
● Tracked since March 10, 2026 · last seen August 06, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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