The Yogi Adityanath government has approved the Uttar Pradesh Digital Media Policy-2024 with stringent punishment for violating the law.

The Policy was approved in the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

In this policy, while arrangements have been made for advertising to agencies and firms working on social media, provisions have also been made for legal action against posting indecent, objectionable or anti-national posts.

Officials here on Wednesday said this policy has been made to provide information about public welfare, beneficial schemes and achievements of the state government and its benefits to the people through digital and social media.

Under this, related agencies and firms will be encouraged by giving advertisements to display content, videos, tweets, posts and reels based on the schemes and achievements of the state government on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. This will provide employment in large numbers youths.

To be listed under this policy, each of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have been divided into four categories based on subscribers and followers.

Official said that the posted content should not be indecent, obscene and anti-national.

At present, if objectionable posts are posted on social media, action is taken by the police under Section 66 (E) and 66 (F) of the IT Act. Now for the first time the state government is bringing a policy to control such cases. Under this, if found guilty, there is a provision for punishment ranging from three years to life imprisonment (in anti-national activities).

Apart from this, one may have to face criminal defamation case for posting indecent and obscene material.

To curb such activities, the Central Government had issued Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code three years ago.

The maximum amount for payment to account holders, operators and influencers of X, Facebook and Instagram has been fixed at Rs 5 lakh, 4 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 3 lakh per month respectively. The category wise maximum limit for payment for videos, shorts and podcasts on YouTube has been fixed at Rs 8 lakh, Rs 7 lakh, Rs 6 lakh and Rs 4 lakh per month respectively.