News Agency PTI Challenges New IT Rules In Delhi High Court

News agency Press Trust of India (PTI) on Wednesday (7 July) challenged the constitutional validity of the revised Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 in Delhi High Court.

In its petition, PTI said that the Digital Media Ethics Code regulation gives oversight to the central government to impose draconian measures including blocking, deletion of content and compulsory publication of an apology for perceived non-compliance of vague conditions such as “good taste”, “decency” and prohibition of “half-truths,” reports The Economic Times.

PTI also argued that the IT Act, 2000 does not mention ‘digital media’ and questioned whether rules enacted in pursuance of the Act could cover ‘digital media’ or go beyond the ambit of the Act.

On the petition, Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice J R Midha issued notices to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

In another development, Twitter has confirmed to the Delhi High Court (HC) that it has not abided by the central government’s new information technology (IT) rules but mentioned that it is in the process of doing so.

On the other hand, the centre told the HC that the intermediaries were provided three months to comply with the rules from 26 February onward and that there have been 41 days of non-compliance by Twitter.

The court has subsequently asked Twitter how long it will take to appoint a new grievance officer and even gave the go-ahead to the central government to take action against the company as it wouldn’t be provided with protection.