Indian Intermediary Liability Regime: Compliance with the Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability

The report was edited by Elonnai Hickok and Swaraj Barooah

The report is an examination of Indian laws based upon the background paper to the Manila Principles as the explanatory text on which these recommendations have been based, and not an assessment of the principles themselves. To do this, the report considers the Indian regime in the context of each of the principles defined in the Manila Principles. As such, the explanatory text to the Manila Principles recognizes that diverse national and political scenario may require different intermediary liability legal regimes, however, this paper relies only on the best practices prescribed under the Manila Principles.

The report is divided into the following sections

• Principle I: Intermediaries should be shielded by law from liability for third-party content
• Principle II: Content must not be required to be restricted without an order by a judicial authority
• Principle III: Requests for restrictions of content must be clear, be unambiguous, and follow due process
• Principle IV: Laws and content restriction orders and practices must comply with the tests of necessity and proportionality
• Principle V: Laws and content restriction policies and practices must respect due process
• Principle VI: Transparency and accountability must be built into laws and content restriction policies and practices
• Conclusion

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