Just like the print media in India follows certain rules, digital news media will also be brought under the regulation, the Central government announced on Thursday. While announcing new guidelines for social media during a press briefing, Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar said a 'code of ethics' and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism would be applicable for news publishers, over-the-top (OTT) platforms and digital media.
Print media follows the Press Council of India guidelines, there must be some form of regulation for news websites as well. Print media mandate to follow the Press Council of India’s code, so in the same manner, digital news media will also have to follow the same rules, said IT minister Prasad.
IT minister Javadekar said at present the government is not sure to whom to consult about the regulations with regards to digital media as it doesn’t have a record of how many news websites there are in the country.
Javadekar said, “We need to get information first about who all are operating in the news website space. After that only we can begin the consultation process.”
“Digital news media will have to disclose their details. We are not mandating registration, we are seeking information,” he told the press.
Also Read: What is the Digital Media Ethics Code notified by government of India?
Today the Centre had announced a new set of rules to curb and check the misuse of social media platforms and mandated firms to appoint grievance officers, disclose the first originator of the mischievous information and remove, within 24 hours, content depicting nudity or morphed pictures of women. Ill usage of social media platforms and speaking of fake news have been a concern for the government noted, minister Prasad, adding that to tackle such mischievous acts, the government is bringing in a "soft touch" regulation.