New Delhi, 09th June 2023: The Indian Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Rajeev Chandrasekhar, announced the government’s plans for new legislation to severely regulate the internet and combat new cybercrimes in the country. Stakeholder consultations on the Digital India Bill will commence this month, and the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill will be introduced in parliament soon.
The Digital India Bill is planned to address several online safety issues, such as combatting child sexual abuse content, religious incitement content, patent infringement content, and misinformation on social media platforms.
Porn, content detrimental to children, copyright infringement, misleading content, impersonation, content deemed against India’s unity and integrity, computer malware, forbidden online games, and anything else illegal are all on the list.
These types of content are currently prohibited by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Still, the Digital India Bill would give the government legal authority to hold platforms accountable for hosting such content.
The proposed Digital India Bill is part of the government’s efforts to make the internet more open and secure and protect the country’s digital citizens.
