India, March 2 -- Social media giant Facebook is considering a legal challenge to India's new guidelines for digital media intermediaries on the basis of an individual's right to privacy, according to sources close to the company. Facebook is considering filing an appeal alone or jointly with social media peers who will be affected by the rules.

The new guidelines - the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 - require significant social media intermediaries (those with at least 50 lakh registered users) to appoint a grievance officer, chief compliance officer and nodal person of contact, besides requiring them to comply with government orders for the takedown of certain content de...