The Union government should address concerns about the draft broadcasting services curbing the freedom of expression of online content creators, journalists and activists said on Thursday.

At a press conference in Delhi, the journalists and activists urged the government to hold wider consultations on the proposed law, and to share the draft with digital media organisations and civil society groups. The press conference was organised by Digipub, an association of independent news organisations and journalists.

The draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill seeks to create a consolidated legal framework for the broadcasting sector in India. The proposed legislation aims to replace the nearly three-decade-old Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995 and bring under its ambit over-the-top media providers and digital news platforms.

The Centre has not yet made the draft of the bill public and has only shared it with selected stakeholders.

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Advocate Apar Gupta, who is a co-founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, said that going by details of the bills reported in the media, the proposed law will apply not only to digital journalists, but also to other online content creators.

“Such creators will have to adhere to compliance requirements that would make it impossible for them to function,” Gupta said. “They can only function with the permission of the government, and the government will decide the basis on which to grant this permission.”

Senior journalist Ravish Kumar urged the government to provide information about the individuals and organisations with whom it has shared a copy of the bill. He said that in the absence of any official statement, journalists and activists would have to believe that the media reports about the contents of the bill are accurate.

“Going by these provisions, the government will need to create jails for Youtubers in each district, and all Youtubers will need to set up a thana [police station] in their homes,” Kumar remarked.

Anant Nath, editor of the Caravan and president of Editors Guild of India, who was also part of the press conference, said that the Broadcast Bill should be looked at in the context of recent policies and laws such as the Information Technology Rules, Digital Personal Data Protection Act, Telecom Bill, and the new criminal laws.

“The Broadcasting Services Bill is one more step in creating a multi-layered legal system to regulate, control, monitor and censor content in the country, which started from the IT Rules, 2021,” he said.

Ritu Kapur, general secretary of Digipub, said that the organisation has reached out to the government seeking to be a part of the consultation process, but has not received a response yet.

Details of the bill reported by the Hindustan Times and Medianama suggest that the proposed law will cover online streaming services, social media accounts and online video creators.

The bill reportedly proposes that online creators will need to conform with a three-tier mechanism put in place by the Information Technology Rules. Broadcasters will need to appoint grievance officers, set up Content Evaluation Committees and will need to comply with a Programme Code and an Advertising Code.

Individuals who regularly upload videos about current affairs on social media may be classified as digital news broadcasters under the bill.