DIGIPUB, an association of Indian pure-play digital news publishers, yesterday announced formation of internal committee as part of the self regulatory mechanism for digital news publishers.

According to a statement from the organization, the committee consists of individuals with an “unimpeachable public service record and accomplishments”.

The committee comprises former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Lokur, retired civil servant and former CEO of India’s national broadcaster Prasar Bharati Jawhar Sircar, Ms. Swarna Rajagopalan, founder and director for the Prajnya Trust and Bezwada Wilson, activist and National Convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan.

In the first week of February, the Indian government announced sweeping guidelines for social media and OTT platforms, and digital news publishers that in a nutshell could be said to have empowered self-regulation under government oversight, which includes a three-tier mechanism. The guidelines sought to put an end to a free run of edgy, highly political and sexual content on streaming services, apart from trying to check spread of misinformation and fake news on SM and on the Internet from within and outside the country emphasizing on identification of  `first originator’ of such messages on SM platforms

 The founding members of DIGIPUB News India Foundation include Alt News, Article 14, Boomlive, Cobrapost, HW News, Newsclick, Newslaundry, Scroll, The News Minute, The Quint and The Wire — all pure-play digital news publishers and are not the digital extension of legacy media.