As MediaNama is gearing up for our hybrid event on IT Rules and the future of online speech in India, we have compiled a comprehensive reading list to help you get up to speed with the topics we intend to discuss. If you haven’t registered for the event yet, please register using the links below.

• Date: Thursday, 23 April 2026
• Time: 12:30 PM to 5 PM
• Format: Hybrid Event – In-Person and Virtual (Via Zoom) 
• Venue: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Delhi

Register here (for in-person attendance) | Zoom link (for virtual participation)

Note: The Zoom link is intended for outstation participants only. If you are based in Delhi, please register for in-person attendance.

You can refer to our full agenda here, and find our recommended reading list below:

Understanding the recent amendments to IT rules: 

• MeitY’s recent amendments to the IT Rules [PDF] 
• Our breakdown of the draft IT Rules: What changes for intermediaries, users, takedowns, and news content.
  [Read]
• Closed-room consultations with no outcomes: MeitY Draft IT Rules meeting leaves key questions from platforms, civil society unresolved [Read]
• Pushback from press bodies: Six journalist bodies demand unconditional withdrawal of draft amendments. [Read]
• How did people react: Compilation of citizen reactions on social media, op-eds, statements by civil society bodies, submissions, and more. [Read]

Legal Analysis & Submissions: 

• Digital rule, colonial echo – India’s IT Rules 2021 amendments by Rudraksh Lakra. [Read]
• Digital structural authoritarianism – India’s IT Rules 2021 Draft Amendment by [Read]
• Internet Freedom Foundation’s (IFF) submissions to MeitY. [Read]
• Advocate Punit Juneja posted his submissions to MeitY’s IT draft rules on X. [Read]

Tracking online censorship: 

• MediaNama’s censorship tracker in March 2026 found over 40 instances of censorship. [Read]
• Censorship tracker for Meta platforms in March. [Read]
• Press Club of India (PCI) statement on recent social media takedowns. [Read]
• Multiple X posts were withheld in March 2026 after Section 69A blocking orders. [Read]
• Several X accounts were withheld in India following legal notices. [Read]
• Punjabi independent journalists allege a censorship framework by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) using takedowns, copyright strikes, and physical coercion. [Read]

Understanding censorship infrastructure:

• The Rise of infrastructure for digital censorship [Read]
• The Building of a Censorship Infrastructure [Read]
• New digital rules risk diluting Supreme Court safeguards [Read]
• Recent amendment of the IT rules reduces the content takedown timeline to 3 hours. [Read] 
• Govt may cut content takedown timeline for social media from 2-3 hrs to 1 hr: report [Read]
• MIB Proposes AI Tool for Real-Time News Analysis to Counter Misinformation [Read]
• Fact-Checking or Control? Maharashtra’s New Media Monitoring Plan Explained [Read]
• Days after Hate Speech Bill, Hyderabad Police orders social media monitoring AI tool [Read]
• Telangana’s Push to Surveil ‘Habitual Social Media Offenders’ Raises Free Speech Concerns [Read]
• Explainer: Telangana Police Plan to Develop Surveillance Tools for Monitoring Private Messages and Online Content [Read]
• Andhra social media crackdown: Over 1,300 arrested for ‘offensive posts’, DGP highlights AI-powered surveillance [Read]
• Goa Police Ties Up with BITS to Create New ‘Radical Content Analyser’ tool [Read]

Understanding Sahyog portal: 

• Explained: What is the Sahyog Portal that X has called out for censorship? [Read]
• X vs Indian Government: Key Points From X’s Petition Against Sahyog Portal [Read]
• Zoom, Quora on the List of 94 Companies Onboarded on the Sahyog Portal, Reveals RTI [Read]
• RTI Reply Reveals Sahyog Portal Expanding Into E-Commerce, Raises FDI Compliance Concerns [Read]
• Inside Sahyog’s Manual: Modi Government’s Online Censorship Method Revealed [Read]
• X Can’t Use Safe Harbour Exemption To Refuse Sahyog Portal Onboarding, Delhi HC Observes [Read]
• Kunal Kamra Challenges Sahyog Portal in Bombay HC, Calls It a ‘Parallel Blocking Regime’ [Read]

Rising concerns of free speech:

• Free Speech and X’s Lawsuit Against India’s Sahyog Portal [Read]
• Content Blocking Orders Not Following Free Speech Protections Upheld by Supreme Court: Experts at MarketsNama [Read]
• In Defence of Offence: On the Ranveer Allahbadia Controversy [Read]
• Who in the World Supports Free Speech? India Says Yes In Theory—But the Numbers Tell a Different Story [Read]
• Explained: Why Allahabad HC’s ‘Unsaid Words’ Ruling Threatens Online Free Speech Even in Private Chats [Read]
• What Supreme Court’s Latest Hearings Mean for Online Free Speech: Satire, Podcasts, and More [Read]

Understanding the struckdown Fact Check Unit:

• Indian government can now fact check and censor any news related to the government: Amended IT Rules [Read]
• Kunal Kamra challenges IT Rules fact-check amendment in Bombay High Court [Read]
• Fact-check Amendment Doesn’t Give Gov Blocking Powers, Distinct from Section 69A: Gov Affidavit Before Bombay HC [Read]
• Bombay HC Delivers Split Verdict In Challenges to Indian Gov’s Controversial Fact-Check Unit [Read]
• Parl report MIB

Understanding AI deepfakes and misinformation:

Note: On March 31, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw blamed AI deepfakes for rising takedowns and censorship, calling them a “new menace and threat.” MediaNama’s tracker shows non-deepfake content was also censored.

• BJP Used Deepfake Audio to Target Opposition in Maharashtra Election [Read]
• How deep fakes could lead to greater misinformation in the upcoming elections [Read]
• Are Deep Fakes Different from Misinformation? Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Priyank Kharge Debate [Read]
• Policy issues that the Bandana Girl incident raises [Read]
• Can Personality Rights & the DPDP Act Protect ‘Viral Celebrities’ from Deepfakes? [Read]
• Platforms That Do Not Meet Deep Fake Takedown Obligations Will Lose Safe Harbour, said Ex-IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar [Read]
• Explainer: How Will ECI’s MCMC Monitor Misinformation & Deepfakes on Social Media? [Read]

Click here to read our event coverage on MediaNama’s discussion on Deep fakes and Democracy.

Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2023,

• Here’s how the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2023, impacts streaming services [Read]
• Top Points of concern emerging from the Draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2023 [Read]
• India’s Streaming Censorship: The Impact of the Broadcasting Services Bill, 2023 [Read]
• Industry Bodies responses to the bill:
• Editors Guild of India calls the broadcast bill vague and excessive, highlighting censorship concerns [Read]
• NASSCOM Challenges OTT Inclusion in Broadcasting Bill, Cites Redundancy [Read]
• The Broadcast bill is an attempt to force fit OTTs into broadcasting: Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation [Read]
• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting refuses to provide comments to broadcast bill [Read]

Understanding intermediary liability:

• Five fundamental flaws in India’s intermediary liability amendments – Nikhil Sud [Read]
• Will companies protect user rights when faced with threats of criminal liability from law enforcement agencies? [Read]
• Does traceability meet the Puttaswamy test? What kind of procedural safeguards do we need? [Read]
• Are AI Developers Intermediaries Under MeitY’s Draft Synthetic Information Rules? [Read]

Understanding safe harbour:

• Safe Harbour Protection—Need of the Hour [Read]
• Does Content Moderation Fall Within Safe Harbor Protections in India? Notes from Internet Society and CCG’s Roundtable [Read]
• “Should There Be Safe Harbour At All?”: 30 Talking Points from the Digital India Act Consultation [Read]
• Nikhil Pahwa discusses the future of safe harbour in India [Video]

Understanding now-stalled Digital India Act:

• India not planning separate AI law; Digital India Act remains stalled [Read]
• How Can Platforms Be Classified and Regulated Under the Digital India Act? [Read]
• Quantum Hub’s discussion on Digital India Act: What people expect, concerns around safe harbor, and more [Read]
• Govt concerned about asymmetry between news publishers and social media platforms: IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar says [Read]
• Digital India Act: Here are 10 key points from the MeitY’s Mumbai consultation [Read]

Register here (for in-person attendance) | Zoom link (for virtual participation)

Note:

• Registration does not guarantee attendance. In case you fit our mandate for the intended audience, we’ll send you a confirmation before the event.
• Your contact information will never be shared with anyone outside of MediaNama.

Note: MediaNama hosting this discussion with support from Meta, Amazon and Google. Our community partners for this event are Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), Centre For Communication Governance (CCG) and Digipub.