Digital news sites challenge government regulations

NEW DELHI: Digital news sites have filed a petition in the Delhi high court challenging the government’s rules that define them as intermediaries, along with social media, and give the executive sanction to block or regulate their content, according to a report by legal website Bar and Bench.

The petition has been filed by Foundation for Independent Journalism, a non-profit organisation that runs news portal The Wire, the Foundation’s director and The Wire founding editor, MK Venu, and Dhanya Rajendran, Editor-in-Chief of The News Minute.

A bench comprising chief justice DN Patel and justice Jasmeet Singh was urged to grant petitioners interim protection, so that no coercive steps are taken under the new rules against digital news media outlets until the next hearing, scheduled for 16 April.