MeitY wants to include users, social firms in content-blocking hearings

To give a clear opportunity to online users to argue their case when content posted by them is blocked by the government, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has proposed to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) to include both users and internintermediaries in interdepartmental committee (IDC) hearings, officials told ET.

Operating under the MIB, the committee hears appeals regarding content blocking orders that remain unresolved by publishers or self-regulatory bodies. Till now, only registered news publishers were involved in IDC hearings, which operate as a level III oversight mechanism under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.