The Bar Council of India (BCI) has asked all State Bar Councils and Centers of Legal Education to implement Social Media and Digital Ethics Rules immediately. Since social media has been incorporated into professional conduct rules, the creation of digital content will be seen as part of the professional duty from now on.

These new regulations will impact advocates, law students, legal interns, and individuals who educate others on social media about the legal profession on social media websites such as YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. It is a big step as social media has now become recognised as an extension of the legal profession. Lawyers will still be allowed to upload their educational content on social media, but they will be required to practise ethics in the same manner as in the court of law.

What’s changing for legal creators?

BCI has also recommended that the State Bar Councils implement the new rules by creating awareness among advocates through awareness campaigns and establishing procedures for filing complaints. The law schools are required to employ compliance officers, conduct sessions on digital ethics, and get written assurances from the students before their internship or admission. It is forbidden under the guidelines to share any confidential client data, sensationalise court hearings, publish misleading legal advice, and use artificial intelligence-manipulated content in any way that may deceive the public.

Why does this matter?

The legal creator community in India has expanded at an unprecedented rate, with many lawyers and law students resorting to social media to help them explain judgments, educate people regarding recent changes in the laws, and give their opinion on any legal issues. However, along with all these positive developments, there have been certain issues of misinformation, promotion, and violation of professional norms by the creators themselves. These rules seek to set some parameters for legal creators. Restrictions on educational content creation have been in place for a while but not like the ones the BCI plans on enforcing now.

What should legal creators do next?

The lawmakers will have to conduct an internal audit of all the previously published content to see whether they adhere to the recently introduced BCI ethics standards. These include refraining from the use of confidential client data, sensationalizing court hearings, and misguiding people about legal matters. If they use artificial intelligence to create their content, they will have to verify everything first.

Author

Krati Darak

Krati Darak is the Senior Editor at The Creator Index, where she leads everything editorial, from coverage decisions and story direction to the voice of India's first dedicated creator economy publication. She's spent over five years in digital media and has done a bit of everything — at Thomson Reuters, she covered legal news, deals, appointments, and rankings. At LBB, she pretty much led Mumbai coverage, digging up the city's hidden gems (if you've found one through them, there's a good chance she wrote about it). She's also worked as a commerce editor at StyleCraze and has written for D2C beauty brands like Foxtale, WOW Skin Science, SkinQ, and more.