I&B Ministry
Jaitley stresses need to integrate communication across social media platforms
NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley today said the “Talkathon” serves as independent interview, which runs live on social media and taken up by all private channels as well.
He added that it offered an opportunity to integrate communication across platforms as well as a direct interface with the audiences.
Addressing a meeting of Consultative Committee of MPs attached to his Ministry to discuss the issue of “Harnessing role of Social Media,” he said the digital mode had become an effective medium to communicate to the wide audience while at the same time it offered opportunities to innovate.
Referring to the Doordarshan (DD) app launched on 7 May, 2015, the Minister mentioned that this initiative provided an opportunity to address the needs of the audience, which followed the dissemination of information on the digital mode.
Jaitley also said efforts would be made to popularize the digital mode of the 100 volumes of Mahatma Gandhi compiled by the Publications Division on the social media platforms of the Ministry.
At the meeting, which was also attended by Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore, a presentation was made by Secretary (I&B) Bimal Julka giving an overview of the steps and initiatives undertaken so far by the Ministry in harnessing the potential of the social media for disseminating the information relating to the important initiatives of the Government.
Members gave suggestions to enhance the reach of the Government coverage through All India Radio (AIR) and DD, especially in areas that required dissemination. It was emphasized that efforts needed to be taken to promote the reach of social media to those segments, which at times suffered due to lack of technological access. It was also suggested that measures need to be taken to facilitate information flow to the young target audience and institutions in rural areas. Members also suggested that content needed to be tailored consistently to address the information needs of the people.
Members who attended the meeting Dr. Jayakumar Jayavardhan, Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal, Tapas Paul, V. Sathyabama, Anil Madhav Dave, Jaya Bachchan, Dr. K. Keshava Rao, Madhusudan Mistry, Neeraj Shekhar and Vivek Gupta.
I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
