Hoax Bomb Threats: Centre Asks Social Media Platforms to Act against Spreading Misinformation

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: As the spate of fake bomb threats issued to airlines poses a threat to public order, the Centre has warned the social media platforms of losing the safe harbour provision under the Information Technology Act if they failed to act on such misinformation at the earliest.

Days after various airlines received multiple hoax bomb threats, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has urged the social media platforms to adhere to provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Rules and Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and make “reasonable efforts” to “promptly” take down such misinformation.

The ministry warned platforms if they failed to comply with the IT Rules, they would lose the safe harbour provisions under the IT Act. Under this provision, platforms are exempted from liability for third-party content published on social media platforms. It has warned the platforms that the exemption available to them for third-party content as intermediaries under the Information Technology Act would not apply if they don’t follow their due diligence obligations or aid in committing an unlawful act.

In the advisory issued, the ministry said, “Airline travellers (sic) and security agencies are being affected due to such hoax bomb threats that disrupt the normal course of operations of the Airlines. The instances of malicious acts in the form of hoax bomb threats to such airlines lead to potential threat to the public order & security of the state.”

“Such hoax bomb threats, while affecting a large number of citizens, also destabilise the economic security of the country. Further, the scale of spread of such hoax bomb threats has been observed to be dangerously unrestrained due to the availability of the option of ‘forwarding/re-sharing/ re-posting/ re-tweeting’ on the social media platforms. Such hoax bomb threats are mostly misinformation that is massively disrupting public order, operations of airlines and security of the airline travellers,” the ministry said in the advisory.

The ministry pointed out that the platforms have an obligation to carry out due diligence under the Information Technology Act (IT Act), 2000, and the Information Technology Rules (IT Rules), 2021, to remove misinformation that affects public order and security. It asked the platforms to stop the posting and sharing of such “unlawful or false” information and warned that the exemption from liability for third-party information, data, or communication hosted by social media intermediaries will not apply “if such intermediaries do not follow the due diligence obligations as prescribed under the IT Act read with IT Rules, 2021 or abetted or aided, in the commission of the unlawful act.”

In 12 days, more than 275 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received hoax bomb threats. Most of the threats were issued through social media. On Thursday, over 70 flights received bomb threats.

The advisory also said in accordance to the IT Rules, platforms will have to provide information on the matter to law enforcement agencies within 72 hours.

“In addition to the above, the IT Rules, 2021 obligates the intermediaries to provide information under its control or possession, or assistance to the Government agency which is lawfully authorised for investigative or protective or cyber security activities, for the purposes of verification of identity, or for the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution, of offences under any law for the time being in force, or for cyber security incidents, well within the stipulated timeframes (as soon as possible but not

later than 72 hours),” it added.

The government had earlier blasted the social media platform “X” for its handling of hoax bomb threats to domestic and international flights in the recent days stating that its actions amount to “abetting the crime.” This came after the Delhi Police struggled to obtain user ID or domain details of X accounts involved in posting threat messages to flights.

In response to the crisis, cyber security agencies have suspended or blocked around 10 social media handles, mostly on X, since Monday. The agencies have identified common phrases used in the fake threats, such as “bombs” and “blood will spread everywhere,” and are working to track down the primary email registration and geographical locations of these threat-issuing handles.

A 17-year-old boy from Chhattisgarh has been detained by the Mumbai Police in connection with the hoax bomb threats posted on X targeting three flights originating from Mumbai on October 14.

The government has assured that law enforcement agencies are actively pursuing all cases of bomb threats against airlines and are closely monitoring the situation.