Top News

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday, March 31, alleged that the proposed draft amendments to IT rules will allow the government to ban independent journalists’ content and prove detrimental to free press in India.

“The draft IT rules are proof that the govt is allergic to free press. If notified, these rules will allow the govt to ban any independent journalist’s online content. Indians heavily rely on independent journalists for news that affects them, things that mainstream channels or publications do not necessarily cover. Without independent journalists, there’s no way of knowing if a ‘toolkit’ is being used to spread fake news or not,” the MP wrote in a post on X.

He added that the public has a right to information and the proposed rules bypass existing stay orders by courts and violate the Supreme Court’s Shreya Singhal judgement.

The government on March 30, proposed draft amendments to IT rules seeking to mandate intermediaries’ compliance with IT Ministry-issued clarifications, advisories and guidelines.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has raised concerns over these draft provisions, saying the amendment creates a sweeping power for Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) to issue binding instruments that are not anchored in law.

The draft amendments, among other things, talk of “mandating compliance by intermediaries with the ministry-issued clarifications, advisories, directions, SOPs, codes of practice and guidelines, forming part of due diligence under section 79”.

Another amendment seeks to widen the ambit of takedown/blocking orders to extend to intermediaries and news and current affairs content hosted by non-publisher users.

IFF, in a post on X, flagged serious concerns over proposed amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, and warned that the changes could significantly expand executive power over online speech.

“Any failure to comply with any MeitY-issued instrument, however vague, however rapidly issued, may cost them their safe harbour. The response for an intermediary is over-compliance and over-censorship,” IFF alleged.

The draft amendments clarify the applicability of Part III (Rule 8) to intermediaries and news and current affairs content hosted by non-publisher users; and talk of “strengthening of Rule 14 to expand the scope and functioning of the Inter-Departmental Committee to consider matters beyond complaints, including those referred by the Ministry”.

“The original proviso to Rule 8 (1) stated that Part III applied to intermediaries only for the purposes of rules 15 and 16, that is, content blocking directions and emergency blocking. The amended proviso now extends this to Rule 14, bringing intermediaries and user-generated news/current affairs content under the jurisdiction of the Inter-Departmental Committee,” IFF said.

Govt invites comments on draft amendments till April 14

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity), in a notice on its website on Monday, said the proposed amendments seeks to strengthen compliance with clarifications, advisories and directions issued by it (under Part II) and to enhance the effectiveness of regulatory oversight of content regulation mechanisms under Part III (Code of Ethics relating to Digital Media) of the IT Rules, 2021.

“The Government of India remains committed to ensuring an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet for all users of Internet-enabled services,” it said while inviting feedback/comments of stakeholders on the draft amendments to IT rules by April 14, 2026.

(With inputs from PTI.)