Proposed amendments to India’s digital regulation rules would grant authorities wide-ranging powers to police, censor and remove users’ content, Amnesty International has warned in a new legal analysis of the proposals.
The amendments to India’s IT rules – which govern digital media content – are currently open for public consultation before they are debated in the country’s parliament. They include new powers that would enable the authorities to take down content that they deem inappropriate without a complaint; extend vague and overbroad categories to classify and prohibit content; require intermediaries’ to follow extra-legislative administrative orders to retain their legal immunity; facilitate the removal of “news and current affairs content” posted by ordinary users; and expand powers over users’ personal data.
“The rules governing online spaces have progressively become more restrictive, with each successive amendment expanding state control over digital content,” said Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board.
These amendments go further still, effectively turning social media platforms into enforcement arms of the state
Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board
“These amendments go further still, effectively turning social media platforms into enforcement arms of the state. They contain a raft of alarming provisions that provide the authorities with intrusive and arbitrary powers over online content, which trample over users’ freedom of expression and privacy and pave way for mass and prolonged surveillance.
“We urge the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to immediately withdraw these amendments.”
In its submission to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Amnesty International outlines its key concerns regarding the amendments, including:
- How current rules that apply only to publishers and intermediaries would be broadened to cover “news and current affairs content” posted by ordinary users, extending authorities’ powers of censorship to ordinary users
- How the amendments would confer wide-ranging powers on authorities to order the deletion or modification of content, and to impose a range of penalties on users, without a complaint mechanism and without independent or judicial oversight.
- How the amendments would make the intermediaries’ legal immunity from liability for third-party content contingent on following executive orders passed by the Indian government without legislative or public scrutiny.
- How the amendments would allow authorities to retain users’ data for an indefinite period, without clear limitations, independent oversight, and strict necessity requirements.
In recent months, there have been several high-profile cases of online censorship in India. They include stand-up comedian Pulkit Mani, who had a satirical video in which he mimicked Prime Minister Narendra Modi blocked from Instagram in March.
On 18 March, MeitY ordered X, the social media platform, to block 12 accounts under Section 69A of the IT Act, which X did despite subsequently raising concerns that most of the content on those accounts did not appear to break the law.
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