Govt likely to extend timeline for stakeholders' view on IT rule tweaks

Extension may allow industry, civil society and individuals more time to respond to proposed changes bringing independent news and current affairs creators under regulatory oversight

The government is likely to extend the timeline for stakeholder comment submission on the proposed amendments to the Information Technology Rules (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) 2021, bringing independent news and general affairs content creators on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) under the ambit of the Rules, said Secretary for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) S Krishnan.

 

Currently, the government has asked stakeholders to submit their views on the proposed amendments by April 14. This deadline, however, could be extended by another week to April 21 to allow the industry, civil society, and independent individuals to submit their views, another senior government official said.

 

The proposed amendments, which bring independent news and general affairs content creators under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B ministry), are “clarificatory” in nature, Krishnan said.

 

“There is a lot more news that is done by users other than registered news publishers. So, it was felt that there should be one entity which handles all news and current affairs content, and that should be I&B,” Krishnan said.

 

While acknowledging that content creators doing commentary on news and current affairs was a “grey area” on which jurisprudence will have to evolve over time, Krishnan said there will be stakeholder discussion on the issue.

 

“You have to understand that in a changing society, it is the democratic right of people to participate and put out news,” he said.

 

Depending on industry feedback, the government may issue a separate objective definition of what constitutes commentary on news and current affairs, and how to distinguish it from news or current affairs content produced by registered publishers, another official said.

 

Earlier during the day, Meity held an industry consultation on the proposed amendments to the IT Rules, in which executives from social media companies sought clarification on the inclusion of these intermediaries under Part III of the Rules, Krishnan said.

 

“They have also sought a consolidation of all the guidelines, which we think is a reasonable request. We will see how we can enable such a consolidation. There is also this issue of consultation before the issuance of an advisory or something. That is something we do in any case, but we will consider,” he said.

 

Under the proposed amendments to the IT Rules, Meity has also suggested that any advisories issued by the government to social media intermediaries must be treated as a part of the Rules and be mandatorily complied with.

 

Such advisories, the proposed amendment has said, will form a part of the intermediaries’ due diligence requirements for retaining safe harbour protections under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act of 2000.