The Delhi High-Court has issued notice on a petition which challenges the newly introduced Information Technology (Guidelines for intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The new rules which were notified by the government on February 25, seeks to introduce a self-regulatory regime for online intermediaries, social media platforms, streaming services and digital media companies. LiveLaw was the first to report the development. The new rules essentially introduce a new a regulatory oversight mechanism for news and current affairs/curated content on the internet, under the oversight of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). Under these rules, the MIB has been awarded with powers to issue orders to publishers and online intermediaries block, delete or modify news and current affairs content under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The government also has the powers to reprimand news organisations based on their ability to comply with the rules and the timelines set up the proposed three-tier grievance redressal mechanism. These rules effect all news organisations publishing content on the internet, foreign news and curated content publishers as well as independent online news and current affairs commentators. The petition challenging these rules on 'news media' was filed by the Foundation of Independent Journalism (the trust that owns TheWire), its founding editor MK Venu and Dhanya Rajendran, founder and editor-in-chief of the The News Minute. The petition solely represented 'publishers of news and current affairs' content or news media, and not curated content publishers or streaming services. The petition says…
