The Amount Of Censorship Of Online Content Has Expanded Exponentially

The recent proposed amendments to IT rules inviting public comments has been explained by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as just procedural but this is not the case. Activists say that if passed, the new rules will further tighten censorship of online content. Rules were already there and takedown orders were being issued in large numbers, but now it will further expand to censor not just publications but also comments by citizens, said Nikhil Pahwa, founder and editor of Medianama and also activist on tech policy. Of the many changes proposed, “There is an expansion of the powers of the ministry, that it can issue advisories and circulars and all sorts of notifications, and those are basically going to be binding obligations on online platforms,” Pahwa said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.