Under the government's new Intermediary Liability and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021 for digital media firms and digital news platforms, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has been awarded powers to block or modify online "news and current affairs" content through an Inter-Departmental Committee and Oversight Mechanism. Additionally, the new rules extend the government's powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to block internet content and reprimand publishers in the interests of "sovereignty, integrity, defence of India and security of the State or preventing a cognisable offence." Under the rules, the government has set up an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC), headed by the MIB, which can decide to issue orders that seek modifications or blocking on online news and current affairs content under Section 69A of the IT Act. "The way they have issued these rules is ultra vires or outside the scope of the law. If the government wants to introduce, regulations for digital media, it should introduce a law," a senior legal and constitutional expert told MediaNama. The government seems to think that because digital media companies are using internet infrastructure, which is governed by the IT Act, they can be regulated under the intermediary guidelines. This is a fundamental conceptual problem with the way government thinks about its rule-making power, this person said on the condition of anonymity. "The IT Act is not about controlling content on the internet, that is not the purpose of the Act. The law may give the government…
