Barely few days after the Indian government put in place a new set of rules for all digital content, a talk show hosted on Facebook by a resident of Manipur state was yesterday served a notice under the new norms, Hindustan Times reported, and then the order was withdrawn on advise from New Delhi.

According to the media report, the show is hosted on the Facebook page of  Kishorechandra Wangkhem, an Imphal-based journalist, who has had several run-ins in the past with the ruling BJP-led government in the state.

After the issue was reported in the media, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting secretary Amit Khare wrote to the north-eastern state Manipur’s chief secretary Rajesh Kumar clarifying that any action under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and the redressal mechanism was the responsibility of the MIB and no other authority.

“These powers have not been delegated to the state government or the district magistrate or the police commissioner,” Khare advised his fellow civil servant chief secretary in Manipur.

The notice issued by Naorem Praveen Singh, district magistrate of Imphal West district, states that it has come to his notice that Wangkhem was providing online services on “news and current affairs on the social media platform” and goes on to direct the publisher/intermediary to “furnish all relevant documents that ensure compliance of the provisions” of the new rules “failing which steps as deemed fit shall be initiated without further notice”.

On February 25, 2021, the Indian government announced sweeping guidelines for SM and OTT platforms, and digital news publishers that in a nutshell could be said to have empowered self-regulation under government oversight. The guidelines seek to put an end to a free run of edgy, highly political and sexual content on streaming services, apart from trying to check spread of misinformation and fake news on SM and on the Internet from within and outside the country emphasizing on identification of  `first originator’ of such messages on SM platforms.

A section of digital news publishers under the banner of DigiPub had also subsequently written to two government ministers exhorting them to hold consultations with the stakeholders as some clauses of the guidelines were said to be curbing journalists’ freedom to carry our professional duties.