Intermediary liability law needs updating

The time has come for India to exert its foreign policy muscle

There is a less charitable name for intermediary liability regimes like Sec 79 of the IT Act — private censorship regimes. Intermediaries get immunity from liability emerging from user-generated and third-party content because they have no “actual knowledge” until it is brought to their notice using “take down” requests or orders. Since some of the harm caused is immediate, irreparable and irreversible, it is the preferred alternative to approaching courts for each case.

When intermediary liability regimes were first enacted, most intermediaries were acting as common carriers — ie they did not curate the experience of users in a substantial