Government Withdraws Compliance Letter Sent to Apple India Over iMessage, Here’s Why
Apple reportedly explained to the ministry that iMessage would not be considered as a social media intermediary because it is an SMS like feature in iPhones like any other device and not a social media app that can be downloaded by any user.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had reportedly written a letter to Apple India seeking details on compliance with the new IT rules concerning the company's popular messaging service 'iMessage'. The letter was reportedly withdrawn after MeitY found out that Apple's iMessage is not a social media intermediary but an instant messaging service. New IT Rules: Twitter Suspends Over 22,500 Accounts in First Compliance Report for Child Sexual Exploitation, Non-Consensual Nudity & Promotion of Terrorism.
As per a report, new IT rules that came into effect a couple of months ago states a social media intermediary as any platform which not only allows online interactions between two or more users but also permits them to create, share, upload, modify or access information using its services. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and LinkedIn are the major social media platforms operating in India.
Apple reportedly explained to the ministry that iMessage would not be considered as a social media intermediary because it is an SMS like feature in iPhones like any other device and not a social media app that can be downloaded by any user. iMessage which also has less than 5 million users could also be the reason why it is out of MeitY's range.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 16, 2021 10:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).