Draft IT Amendments: Experts Warn of Over-Censorship, Compliance Burden for Social Media

• India's proposed IT Rule amendments risk over-censorship and compliance burdens for social media platforms.
• Draft changes make government advisories binding and expand takedown powers to all news/current affairs content.
• Ministry of I&B can now directly refer content for takedown, bypassing the earlier complaint-driven mechanism.
• Experts warn of significant expansion of state power, treating all social media users as digital news publishers.
• Concerns raised over potential for targeting critical commentary and lack of checks and balances on government authority.