The Indian government has reportedly withdrawn the letter sent to Cupertino tech giant Apple over compliance of iMessage with the new IT rules. As per a report coming from PTI, the Ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) revokes a letter it sent to Apple India seeking details of compliance of the iMessage with the new IT rules.
The letter has been withdrawn after Apple explained to the ministry that its messaging service iMessage is not an app but just a messaging feature on iPhone. The company highlighted that similar feature is found on all mobile devices from across brands. iMessage comes bundled with all iPhones and is not an app that can be downloaded from Apple App store.
iMessage not a social media app
iPhone make further stated that the iMessage messaging service can not be considered as a “social media intermediary”. This is because iMessage has less than 5 million users. This is another reason why iMessage should be kept out of the purview of the Information Technology (IntermediaryGuidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.
PTI quoted a source who said, “Apple’s iMessage is not an app available that can be downloaded by anyone. It is a SMS like feature of the phone and hence Meity has withdrawn a letter issued to Apple for seeking compliance.”
Indian government announced the new IT rules earlier this year. The rules and guidelines under the IT rules 2021 came into force on May 26. Since then, big social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Google and more have been working towards complying with the new IT / social rules. Twitter and the government had tremendous drama over compliance with IT rules, the microblogging site is working hard to comply with the new guidelines.
