“By the end of this month, we should be able to notify the final rules,” an anonymous Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) official told The Print, according to its May 22 report, while referring to the March 2026 draft amendments to IT Rules (2021).
The official also reportedly said:
- The government may not walk back on provisions related to the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC), which can extend government scrutiny to user-generated news content without waiting for a public complaint.
- MeitY received around 4,000-7,000 email submissions and stated that it reviewed all of them.
The government official did not specify whether MeitY will revoke any of the four proposed amendments when it notifies the final version later this month.
Some pointers from the April 8 closed-room stakeholder meeting and S Krishnan’s press briefing:
- Key issue discussed: The lack of clarity over the distinction between users, intermediaries, and publishers.
- “Today, with citizen journalism, this is a grey area,” Krishnan said. He further reinforced the draft rules, saying that user-generated content related to “news and current affairs” on social media will also now fall under MIB’s regulatory framework and code of ethics.
- Intermediaries had asked for clarity on whether government advisories constitute binding guidelines, he reportedly said, referring to the draft clause that aims to give legally binding status to government-issued guidelines, SOPs, and advisories.
- The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had asked for jurisdiction over news and current affairs content, he reportedly said, referring to one of the draft amendments that extends the applicability of the Code of Ethics framework to user-generated content as well.
- Law enforcement agencies had asked for a data preservation provision, he said while addressing the proposal that aims to increase data retention obligations without proper thresholds or guidelines.
- The government may release a single master framework of guidelines clarifying whether advisories and SOPs issued by MeitY will be legally binding or non-binding in nature.
Some important statements from MediaNama’s discussion on IT draft amendments in April 2026:
On Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC):
- “I was summoned by MIB’s Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) for a thumbnail. The irony is that they didn’t even watch the whole video and summoned me to the hearing for a thumbnail,” said Ambuj Kumar, Editor of Lokhit India, a Delhi-based digital media company.
- “The terms like ‘matters’ or ‘user’ are not defined. The distinction between a publisher and a user is not defined. What you’ve essentially done is remove the tier-1 and tier-2 processes, and it straight up goes to the IDC. The IDC has the liberty to make arbitrary decisions. In effect, what they’re trying to do is introduce a sweeping provision that gives them…
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