Delhi-based legal not-for-profit organisation SFLC.in has urged the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to withdraw the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Draft Amendments, 2026 in their entirety, arguing that the proposed changes could significantly expand executive control over online speech and weaken constitutional safeguards for users.
In its comments submitted to the Ministry, SFLC.in said the draft amendments, released on March 30, 2026, could have far-reaching implications for freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, intermediary liability, data protection rights, and the future of digital discourse in India.
One of SFLC.in’s key objections relates to the proposed requirement that intermediaries comply with clarifications, advisories, orders, directions, standard operating procedures, codes of practice or guidelines issued by MeitY. The organisation argued that such instruments are generally executive in nature and do not carry statutory force. Making them part of intermediaries’ due diligence obligations under Section 79 of the IT Act could, SFLC.in warned, encourage platforms to remove lawful content to avoid liability.
SFLC.in also raised concerns over the proposed expansion of regulatory oversight to “news and current affairs” content hosted by intermediaries and even non-publisher users. It said the broad definition of news and current affairs could cover ordinary users, commentators, independent creators, citizen journalists, comedians, and others posting on political, economic, social, cultural or public-interest issues.
According to SFLC.in, this could create a “censorship by proxy” effect, where platforms become risk-averse and take down content without meaningful review. It argued that the amendments could disproportionately affect smaller platforms and startups, which may lack the resources to build extensive compliance, legal review, and automated moderation systems.
The organisation has also objected to the proposed expansion of the Inter-Departmental Committee’s jurisdiction to consider broader “matters” referred to by MeitY, saying this could turn the committee into a forum of first instance for executive-driven content decisions.
On data retention, SFLC.in said the proposed amendments could dilute user rights under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, including the right to erasure, by allowing intermediaries to retain user data for extended periods. SFLC.in said existing mechanisms under Section 69A of the IT Act already provide a framework for blocking unlawful content and argued that any additional regime must meet constitutional standards of legality, necessity and proportionality.