The Indian government on Friday said there was no proposal presently under its consideration to enact a law to regulate digital media.

“No proposal to enact a separate law to regulate the digital media is currently under consideration of the government,” Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed Rajya Sabha (Upper House).

Pointing out that the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 has adequate safety measures, the Minister explained that one of the obligations on intermediaries is “to

not host, store or publish any information, including information published by digital media on the intermediary platform or such information shared on it by other users, which is unlawful, prohibited by law in relation to India’s sovereignty and integrity, security of the State, public order, contempt of court etc., upon receiving actual knowledge in the form of an order by a court or being notified by the government under the provisions of the IT Act”.

The Minister was replying to a query from a fellow parliamentarian in the Upper House who had sought details of the steps taken by the government to regulate digital media and whether there was any proposal to enact a law to regulate the digital media.

Chandrasekhar further added that the IT Rules cast specific obligation on social media intermediaries to observe diligence and that if they fail to observe such due diligence, they shall no longer be exempt from liability under law for third-party information or data or communication link hosted by them.

The Minister highlighted that the government’s aim is to make the Internet Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable.