Proposed new digital media regulation in India risks facilitating censorship.

Photo by @geralt on Pixabay.com 

Proposed amendments to the Indian regulatory framework for digital media risk giving the government undue power to limit users’ freedom of expression online.

The state of the art of Internet freedom in India sparks worry, as shown in the 2025 Freedom in the Net Report: harassment of journalists and civil society, silencing of dissent against the government and increasing control over social media content keep Internet freedom in India under strain. The government exercises such undue control through instruments like the legal framework regulating Information Technology Rules.

Since 2021, repeated amendments of these rules have converged towards the creation of a system of censorship enabled by increased governmental control over online content and users’ rights. The rules under this framework, though formally aimed at targeting fake news and hate speech, have instead largely been used to silence dissent. By invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the government has frequently used blocking orders to target online content that is critical of the government, particularly with respect to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his silence in front of current tensions between Iran, the US and Israel. Many posts that have been blocked include satirical content or content from opposition politicians. Numerous accounts have also been suspended. Since blocking orders are issued under confidentiality, evidence of such censorship is hard to trace, and can only be sourced directly from affected users. Since 2020 the government has also blocked almost 700 apps, with no transparency and scarce possibility for recourse.

The new draft amendments to the Information Technology Rules, proposed in 2026, extend the already existing regulatory framework to ordinary social media users as well. These users, when sharing content related to news and current affairs, would be obligated to follow a code of ethics which currently applies to registered news publishers. The new rules would also allow authorities to remove or restrict content without prior complaints and expand powers over users’ personal data. Additionally, a new executive body - an Inter-Departmental Committee - would be established to act as a censorship committee by recommending actions to take with relation to undesired content. These new amendments combine with measures introduced in late 2025, which restrict access to or publication of certain types of information which could be of public interest, including administrative and institutional documents.

The amendments are currently open for public consultation. They have been criticised for potentially allowing the government to exercise censorship on ordinary social media users, as well as influencers and independent journalists, thus chilling free expression and possibly causing self-censorship. Besides censorship, Amnesty International cites further problems, including the absence of complaint mechanisms, of independent or judicial oversight and of legislative scrutiny. Many digital rights activists and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have criticised these amendments for curtailing freedom of expression and the right to privacy and for “pav[ing] way for mass and prolonged surveillance”, as well as for a dangerous crackdown on the expression of dissent.

written by Alessia Milillo