Many teams expressed considerations on rising censorship of viral anti-establishment content material on social media. | Photograph Credit score: Getty Photographs
The Ministry of Electronics and Data Know-how confronted questions from civil society on Tuesday (April 7, 2026), after proposing a rule change that might give the Ministry of Data and Broadcasting larger powers to deal with particular person social media customers like regulated information publishers. In two back-to-back conferences on Tuesday afternoon, IT Secretary S. Krishnan heard from civil society and trade teams representing social media companies, with the previous expressing considerations on rising censorship of viral anti-establishment content material on social media.
At a 1 pm assembly with the Ministry, social media companies and different on-line companies requested for extra time to ship in feedback on the draft modification to the Data Know-how (Middleman Pointers and Digital Media Ethics Code) Guidelines, 2021. The companies’ representatives, nevertheless, didn’t point out the surge in high-profile censorship of their customers, two attendees on the assembly informed. The Hindu.
In the course of the assembly that adopted, with sure civil society representatives, attorneys and assume tank representatives, the references to censorship grew. The Web Freedom Basis, a Delhi-based digital rights advocacy, mentioned within the assembly that the draft modification, which might additionally make it necessary for social media platforms to comply with “advisories” issued by the IT Ministry, ought to be withdrawn and that it was “unlawful,” the group mentioned in a press release after the alternate.
IFF mentioned that regardless that the assembly was ostensibly for civil society, there have been trade individuals on this assembly as nicely. “Civil society participation was sparse, with solely three to 4 organizations within the room,” the group mentioned. “This speaks to the gradual erosion of capability and shrinking variety of civil society organizations in India that work on digital rights.”
A number of viral posts and accounts mocking and satirizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been focused with takedown orders from the IT Ministry in current weeks. DrNimoYadav, one such deal with, has been restored on X, previously Twitter, after Prateek Sharma, the deal with’s operator, approached the Delhi Excessive Courtroom for aid. Particular person posts cited by the hitherto confidential blocking order stay blocked for customers in India.
Editorial:On digital censorship
Fb pages of comic Rajeev Nigam, Dastak Information, Molitics, and 4PM Information, all unbiased outfits, have been taken down in current weeks, together with a number of posts on Instagram and earlier, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned there have been “AI-generated” posts that merited this response. Few of the takedowns appeared to focus on AI-generated content material.
Nikhil Pahwa, editor of the tech coverage information web site MediaNama, informed Mr. Krishnan within the civil society assembly that “the federal government’s intent behind the IT Guidelines session is obvious within the impression they’re having — of mass censorship. That is an infrastructure for mass censorship.”
Chatting with the press after each the conferences, Mr. Krishnan downplayed the potential impression of the modification permitting the MIB to deal with particular person commentators the identical as skilled information organizations. Whereas admitting that there was a “gray space” on what distinguishes a person consumer sharing their perspective from devoted present affairs commentators, Mr. Krishnan mentioned the IT Ministry had “sufficient on our plate” and that for folks exterior the federal government, it made little distinction who was sending takedown notices.
Revealed – April 08, 2026 06:58 am IST