TV news channels in a fix over IT rules

NEW DELHI : News broadcasters that have written to the ministry of information and broadcasting to be excluded from the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, are open to considering legal options to challenge them. This comes close on the heels of technology giant Google telling the Delhi high court this week that its search engine had been ‘mischaracterized’ as a social media intermediary.

Television channels, which requested the government for exemption from the rules, through their lobby group News Broadcasters Association (NBA), are yet to hear from the government on the request. Instead, on 26 May the information and broadcasting ministry put out a statement asking digital news sites to provide details such as language in which content is published,