The Union minister of electronics and information technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, assures that the 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act maintains journalistic independence as per the Constitution. However, concerns about ambiguous obligations imposed by the rules have been expressed by press bodies.
On Wednesday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw claimed that the 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act maintains and guarantees journalistic independence as per the Constitution. His remarks came in response to a petition challenging the Act by the Digital News Publishers Association, which represents 21 media publishers, including those owned by Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. The association has cited violation of journalistic freedom as the reason for their challenge.
The Act was notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in November 2025, bringing into effect rules that clarify how organizations processing personal data should handle it, notify individuals of data breaches, and obtain consent for data collection. According to the Act, a 'data fiduciary' is any entity that processes any personal data.
Concerning Section 44(3) of the Act, it imposes a blanket ban on the disclosure of personal information without defining what constitutes ‘personal information’. The rules had also clarified that organizations processing personal data should provide notices to users that are easy to understand, explaining why they are collecting data and how it will be used. These notices must explain the types of data being collected and make withdrawing consent for their data to be used as simple as granting it, according to the law.
After the rules were notified last year, press bodies had expressed concern about them, saying that the ‘ambiguous obligations’ they impose could open the door for indirect censorship.
Source:
Scroll.in
