NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday said the power to administer the newly released rules for digital media publications has not been delegated to states and Union territories but will have to be administered by the Information and Broadcasting ministry.
In a memorandum dated February 25, the government had announced the Information Technology (Intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics codes) Rules 2021 under the IT Act 2000.
Under the new rules, the provisions laid grounds for a Code of Ethics for digital news publishers, setting up of a grievance redressal system and the requirement of disclosure of information to Centre.
According to the new rules, “Furnishing of information by publishers to the government and periodical disclosure of information regarding grievance redressal in public domain.”
However, clarifying the provisions, the ministry's letter dated March 3 cites that “the rules under Part III of the guidelines have not been delegated to state governments/district magistrates/police commissioners.”
The announcement comes a day after the Union government overturned a Manipur district magistrate's order issued under the recently implemented guidelines.
Quick Edit: Manipur incident shows why the new digital media rules are prone to abuse
On March 2, Naorem Praveen, deputy commissioner of Imphal West, had served a notice on the publisher/intermediary of “Khanasi Neinasi”, a weekly online discussion, of The Frontier Manipur (TFM).
The commissioner had directed the website to furnish “all relevant documents for ensuring compliance”, failing which “steps as deemed fit would be initiated without further notice” under the new media rules.
The state government in Manipur became the first state to initiate action against a digital media portal under the ambit of the recently released digital media laws.
Following Union I&B secretary Amit Khare intervention, the notice issued by Imphal West DC was retracted.
