NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) wrote to all states and union territories clarifying it did not delegate them to seek information from digital news sites and OTT platforms under the newly notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media
Ethics Codes) Rules, 2021 under I-T Act, 2020 on Wednesday.
This comes after journalist Paojel Chaoba was issued a notice after participating in Khanani Neinasie, an online discussion, by the Manipur government.
The talk show on current affairs and news was hosted on social media platform.
Following this, MIB secretary Amit Khare wrote to the Manipur government that state governments had not been delegated to execute the rules on news sites and OTTs on Tuesday. The notice was subsequently withdrawn.
“Part III of these Rules relate to publishers of digital news and current affairs and publishers of online curated content,” the memorandum issued on Wednesday said.
The rules include a code of ethics to be followed by digital news published and publishers of OTT content, which includes five age-based classification
(U, U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16 + and A) in respect of OTT platforms, a three-level grievance redressal mechanism consisting of the publisher, self-regulating body constituted by the publishers and an oversight mechanism of the government with a time-bound grievance disposal mechanism, and furnishing of information by the publishers to the government and periodical disclosure of information regarding grievance redressal in public domain.
“It is hereby informed that Part III of the rules are administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India,” said a statement.