Significant Social Media Intermediary (SSMI)
Definition
An intermediary with more than 50 lakh registered users in India. Under the Intermediary Guidelines 2021 an SSMI must appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact Person and a Resident Grievance Officer, all resident in India.
- User threshold
- More than 50 lakh (5 million) registered users in India
- Governing rule
- IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2021
- Required officers
- Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person, Resident Grievance Officer
- Officer residency
- All three officers must be resident in India
Common questions
Why does SSMI status matter to an investigator?+
An SSMI is required to run a Resident Grievance Officer and Nodal Contact Person based in India, which gives law enforcement and courts a named local point of contact for takedown, preservation, and data requests instead of routing through an overseas office.
What happens if a platform fails to meet SSMI obligations?+
Non-compliance can cost the intermediary its safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act, exposing it to direct liability for third-party content it would otherwise not be responsible for.
Related terms
- NCII
- Non-consensual intimate images. The category includes revenge porn, leaked private content and morphed sexual imagery. Prosecuted in India under IT Act Section...
- Pig Butchering
- The 'sha zhu pan' romance-investment scam. Phase 1 builds the relationship over weeks. Phase 2 introduces a fake crypto or trading platform....
- Section 79 Safe Harbour
- The IT Act 2000 provision that exempts intermediaries from liability for third-party content, conditional on observing due diligence under the Intermediary Guidelines...
- Sock Puppet
- A fictitious online identity created and controlled by an investigator to observe or interact with a target without revealing the investigation. The...
- Traceability Rule
- Rule 4(2) of the Intermediary Guidelines 2021. Requires significant social media intermediaries that provide messaging to enable identification of the first originator...