I&B Ministry
Press regulation not called for, says Modi
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed concern over the recent killings of journalists in some parts of the country. He said journalists were losing their lives in the quest for telling the truth was an extremely serious development.
Modi emphasised the importance of freedom of press, and said press should self-regulate, adding that any external interference or regulation on the press was not called for. Modi was speaking at a function organised by the Press Council of India yesterday on the occasion of National Press Day. The occasion also marks the golden jubilee of the Press Council of India.
Speaking earlier, information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said that self-regulation in the media space was the best practice which would uphold journalistic ethics and democratic ideals of the Nation.
The government does not believe in imposing ban on any medium of communication, but necessary restraint has to be exercised keeping in mind the protection of sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the nation, and law & order situation in the country, he added.
Naidu recalled that the electronic media coverage of Mumbai terrorist attacks had received a backlash from the Supreme Court, which said “any attempt to justify the conduct of the TV channels by citing the right to freedom of speech and expression would be totally wrong and unacceptable in such a terrorist situation.” He also mentioned the recent case of Pathankot coverage also highlighted how electronic media coverage while reporting could put civilians, armed personnel lives in danger.
Speaking about the role of the regional media, the minister said the media assumed importance at the regional level due to its proximity with local communities and local language which enhances the participatory potential of citizens. The regional media played an important role in building participatory democracy by reaching out to all the sections of the society and also created an informed citizenry. In a federal polity, regional media with its reach could help align the interests of states with that of the nation thereby enabling the prime minister’s vision of cooperative federalism.
Regarding the government’s new print media advertisement policy, Naidu said it promoted equity-based regional outreach by providing relaxation in empanelment procedure to provide special encouragement for regional language/dialects small and medium newspapers.
On the opportunities offered by social media, the minister said that it was a new tool of communication which was spontaneous and interactive. Such a medium was both an opportunity and a challenge. This mode of communication should be used judiciously for larger national and individual good.
Naidu said the media had a larger role to play in developmental agenda of the nation by proactively projecting flagship programmes of the government such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India, Jan Dhan Yojana, Skill India and Make in India as national programmes which have the potential to bring about change. The media needed to adorn the role of a stakeholder in the developmental process.
Minister of state Rajyavardhan Rathore and Press Council of India chairman Justice C. K Prasad were also present.
Eminent journalists and photo- journalists including Surendra Nihal Singh, Mrinal Pande, Raghu Rai, Renjith John, Arvind Kumar Singh, and Xavier Selva Kumar were awarded for excellence in Journalism.
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.
