The Editors Guild of India on Saturday expressed deep concern with the Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules, 2026, for allegedly giving the executive overarching powers to block or take down content generated by "non-news publishers" and intermediaries.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on March 30 published the amendment rules, seeking stakeholders' views by April 14.
The proposed changes aim to close existing regulatory gaps by making it legally mandatory for intermediaries to follow all written clarifications, advisories and standard operating procedures issued by the ministry.
A key highlight of the draft is the expansion of the digital media ethics code to include intermediaries and individual users who, while not registered as formal "publishers", regularly share news and current affairs content. This move is specifically designed to bring high-reach social media "news" accounts under the same grievance and ethics framework as mainstream digital media.
In a statement, the Editors Guild said, "The draft rules appear to arm MeitY with sweeping powers of content regulation, sharply increases the compliance burden on digital intermediaries and gives the executive overarching powers to block or take down content generated by 'non-news publishers' and intermediaries."