India: Censorship for digital content?

Content creators on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) had been kept on their toes for the past few weeks by a draft legislation that aimed to overhaul and regulate broadcasting services in India.

The government unveiled the first draft of the bill last November, but this July a second draft was shared with select industry stakeholders.

While the first draft aimed to regulate digital streaming platforms, the second one sought to expand its scope to include online content creators by introducing a new category called "digital news broadcasters."

The proposals sparked public outcry, with many journalists, activists and rights groups expressing fears over possible government overreach as well, as potential censorship and stifling of free speech.

The bill would apply to every content creator, whether a YouTuber discussing video games, an Instagram blogger talking about their trip abroad, or a political commentator.

The stipulated provisions would require content creators to set up a Content Evaluation Committee (CEC), consisting of members from diverse fields — at their own cost — and then inform the government about it. They would also need to get their content approved by the CEC before posting it online. 

Secrecy around draft bill raises questions

The secrecy around the bill has also raised questions about the intent of the government.

The government only shared the second draft with a handful of stakeholders, including some industry bodies, telecom companies and tech firms.

This left others like journalists, lawyers and rights groups to rely on an unofficial leaked copy of the bill circulated online.

Following the criticism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government said on Monday that it's working on a new draft.

"A fresh draft will be published after detailed consultations," India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a post on X.

However, this statement only referred to the first draft of the bill and not the second draft, causing confusion among digital rights activists.

Prateek Waghre, executive director of Internet Freedom Foundation, told DW he was concerned about the ambiguous language used in the drafts of the bill.

"This has been a long-standing concern of ours, that a lot of the regulation is being framed in such a way that the parent act doesn't place any limitations so you have a vague legislation," he said.

Public outrage behind withdrawal of Broadcasting Bill?

On August 8, Digipub, India's largest association of digital news organizations and journalists, held a press conference to express concerns about the bill. 

The provisions laid down are not feasible for everyone to follow, Ravish Kumar, one of India's most prominent journalists said during the event: "It will lead to self-censorship and an atmosphere of fear that one's channel can be shut anytime which is not good for any democratic country."

Other news commentators and digital creators have also registered their protest on social media and tried to mobilize and create awareness around the bill using hashtags like #killthebill #contentbacho (save the content) and #Stopbroadcastingbill.

"The bill will not let content creation stay an easy process, it will discourage people from producing content," Shamita Yadav, a content creator who is known for her rants on political issues, told DW. "Any authoritarian regime would always want to curtail independent thoughts and minds."

Social media, the new frontier

The Indian government's efforts to introduce stringent regulations for content creators come at a time when social media and "news influencers" have emerged as an alternative voice in India.

Ever since Modi came to power in 2014, India's ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has fallen consistently. In 2023, India ranked 161, slipping from 150 just a year ago. 

The importance of social media in the political sphere is not lost on the government. 

In 2021, a report on government communication by a group of ministers said that "some negative influencers give false narratives and discredit the Government. These need to be constantly tracked so that proper and timely response can be given."

S. Meghnad, a content creator who has more than 65,000 subscribers on YouTube and frequently produces political content, said that it is "important to understand the mindset behind this bill."

"For some reason, the BJP government has decided that the content creators are the problem, for probably their loss of face during the elections," he added.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru