Centre Proposes Stricter Rules for Online News Content by Influencers

Social media users and influencers who share news content may soon be held to stricter rules, similar to those followed by news publishers. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) proposed these changes as part of a draft update to the Information Technology Rules, 2021. The ministry has invited public feedback on the proposal until April 14.

According to the draft, people who are not official news publishers but still share news or current affairs content on platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and X may also come under stricter regulation. The new rules say that certain provisions (Rules 14, 15, and 16) will apply not only to news publishers but also to regular users posting such content.

These rules allow a government committee to investigate content and let the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting order content to be blocked or changed. The government says these changes are meant to improve compliance and strengthen content regulation.

Another addition requires social media platforms to follow all government instructions, guidelines, and advise. Following these rules will be necessary for platforms to avoid legal responsibility for user-generated content. However, the Internet Freedom Foundation IFF has strongly opposed these changes. It has asked for the draft to be withdrawn and criticized the short 15-day period given for public feedback. The IFF said,“We wish to state at the outset that these proposed amendments need to be immediately withdrawn and every member in our citizenry should demand their rollback and stand with the Constitution of India,” these rules could increase government control specially of political content, satire, and criticism online.

It also warned that the changes could expand the government’s power to block content posted by regular users, not just news organizations. According to the group, this could allow the government to control online content in a way that courts have previously questioned. The digital rights group stated, “The IDC can now examine ‘matters’ related to user-generated news content on intermediary platforms without the Code of Ethics framework having been adjudicated as constitutional; the government effectively obtains the content oversight machinery that three high courts found illegal, through a different procedural door,”

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