Rights Groups Press India to Withdraw Draft Digital Rules Expanding Online Censorship

Overview

• Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released legal analyses this week urging India’s tech ministry to drop draft amendments now out for public comment.
• The proposal would treat ordinary users who post on news or current affairs like formal publishers, placing them under a government Code of Ethics and layered self‑regulation.
• The draft ties platforms’ legal immunity for user posts to following executive advisories and guidelines, shifting compliance away from court orders to administrative directives.
• The rules empower an Inter‑Departmental Committee to order removals without a user complaint, and platforms could be pressed to take down content in as little as three hours during emergencies.
• The plan also expands data retention, with at least 180 days and potentially longer under other laws, and comes after a surge in opaque blocking orders that led X and Meta to restrict more posts in India.