Govt rules for online media to include takedown power

CENTRE WANTS TO TREAT ONLINE NEWS MEDIA PUBLISHERS AT PAR WITH LEGACY MEDIA PUBLISHERS LIKE NEWSPAPERS AND NEWS CHANNELS

NEW DELHI: The Union government wants to treat online news media publishers at par with traditional media publishers, such as newspapers and news channels, and also bring them under the ambit of section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act that gives takedown powers to the government, according to new guidelines yet to be put in force.

Digital media, as defined in a document that lays out the government’s framework to regulate online content, will cover digitised content that can be transmitted over the internet or computer networks. It includes intermediaries such as Twitter and Facebook, and publishers of news and current affairs content. It also includes so-called curators of such content. So far, online news media has not been unregulated, with the information & broadcasting ministry brining it under its ambit last year, but not yet formalising rules for it. Nor are intermediaries, especially social media companies that take refuge in their intermediary status when it comes to owing up responsibility for content. According to the guidelines titled Information Technology (Guidelines for intermediaries and digital media ethics code) Rules, 2021, digital news media publishers will need to follow rules that apply to print and electronic media.

Publishers of news and current affairs content will cover online papers, news portals, news agencies, and news aggregators, but not include the e-paper of any newspaper (print media comes under the purview of the Press Council of India, anyway, and has to follow established guidelines).