The Centre has issued an advisory to social media platforms including Elon Musk-owned X, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, and other companies while directing them to remove applications that let users manipulate their called IDs. This has been done primarily against Calling Line Identification (CLI) in a bid to curb cyber fraud. The Ministry of Communications in its advisory said that offences where a person obtains “subscriber identity modules or other telecommunication identification through fraud” is in violation of the Telecommunications Act.
This offence is punishable by law and the offender can face imprisonment up to three years a fine extending up to Rs 50 lakh or both.
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What Is CLI & Why Is It Creating So Much Of Trouble?
Caller Line Identification (CLI) spoofing, commonly known as caller ID spoofing, is a deceptive practice where a caller manipulates their phone number to appear as someone else’s. Fraudsters frequently use various apps to carry out this trick, often with the intent of deceiving people into revealing sensitive personal or financial details.
The government highlighted a recent case where a social media influencer demonstrated how to modify CLI to make calls appear as though they were coming from a different number. This incident prompted authorities to take action and issue an advisory to curb such practices.
The official statement of the ministry read, “Any application that allows to tamper telecom identifier (like CLI, IP address, IMEI etc) is abetting users in committing an offence by contravening provisions of Telecommunications Act, 2023 and therefore Social media platforms and Application hosting platforms are required to remove such content/applications that allows or promotes tamper of telecom identifier in contravention to the provisions of the Telecommunications Act, 2023.”
The government has directed all social media and application hosting platforms to comply with the advisory and submit a compliance report to the Department of Telecommunications by February 28.
