Big Brother syndrome

New rules for digital media have troubling implications

The new rules for information technology (IT) intermediaries have troubling implications for freedom of expression and the right to disseminate information. The Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, give the government wide-ranging discretionary powers to censor online news and content on social media platforms, and to take punitive actions against them. These guidelines also imply instant messenger services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram will be compelled to break encryption. They increase the cost of compliance substantially by the insistence that platforms adopt a complicated mechanism to address complaints. Digital news publishers and streaming services