In the era of massive information overload, certain misgivings are also being granted regarding rule 16 under Part III of the guidelines to block internet content in cases of emergency nature.
In a ministry statement itself, It has been therefore clarified that the rule to issuing directions of interim blocking issued by the secretary of the ministry of information and broadcasting has been persisting since 2009 and has not been newly introduced.
Furthermore, it is to be noted that the aforementioned provision has only been replaced with Secretary, Ministry of I&B because Part III of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 with the government adding that a certain code of ethics along with a three tier grievance redressal mechanism shall be made applicable in both Over the Top (OTT) platforms and digital media as well as for news publishers.
