I&B Ministry
Tussle between Centre and Twitter intensifies
KOLKATA: The conflict between Twitter and the Indian government gets even murkier as the microblogging site has “failed to comply” with new IT rules. According to multiple reports, Twitter has lost its legal protection as an intermediary over non-compliance with the rules, which could impact its business overall as India remains one of the most critical markets for the platform. According to an estimate, the platform has a user base of 1.75 crore in India, which is one of its top five markets.
“Numerous queries are arising as to whether Twitter is entitled to safe harbour provision. However, the simple fact of the matter is that Twitter has failed to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines that came into effect from the 26th of May,” union information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted on Wednesday.
Prasad further added it has deliberately chosen the path of non-compliance despite multiple opportunities. His statement amid the reports of Twitter losing its “safe harbour” immunity has raised the question on Twitter’s future in India.
On the other side, Twitter said that it appointed an interim chief compliance officer in line with the new rules and it would share the details with the IT ministry soon. As per the rules, each significant social media intermediary is required to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies, and a resident grievance officer. All three should be resident Indians.
“These rules are only about setting out the procedures that need to be followed by the intermediaries if they want to continue to get the protection of safe harbour under section 79. The principle of intermediaries is that ordinarily, you will be not liable to whatever content you carry because it is presumed the platforms do not know what they are carrying. Therefore, the platforms will get the benefit of the doubt. But the benefit of the doubt will only extend to the situation where you are told this is wrong and you need to take it down,” TMT Law Practice managing partner Abhishek Malhotra explained.
Twitter has already been named in an FIR concerning an incident in Ghaziabad’s Loni. “There is no communal angle to the incident in Loni where a man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off. The following entities — The Wire, Rana Ayyub, Mohammad Zubair, Dr Shama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi, Maskoor Usmani, Slaman Nizami — without checking the fact, started giving communal colour to the incident on Twitter and suddenly they started spreading messages to disrupt the peace and bring differences between the religious communities,” the Ghaziabad Police said in the FIR.
India is one of the top five markets for Twitter. There are apprehensions that Twitter can be even banned if this tussle continues. The platform recently faced the heat in Nigeria.
“Twitter admittedly is yet to comply with IT Rules, 2021 and as the law stands as on date, the government may decide to revoke its ‘intermediary’ status thereby taking away the immunity enjoyed by it against the content published on the platform by its millions of users,” partner at Bharucha & Partners Kaushik Moitra said.
However, any action initiated by the Government must be tested in the freedom of speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution of India, he noted further.
I&B Ministry
Govt panel clears D2M broadcasting, flags stakeholder review
Policy momentum builds for D2M ahead of expected 2026 rollout
NEW DELHI: The government has taken a decisive step towards rolling out direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcasting in India, with the Committee of Secretaries giving in-principle approval to the proposal while simultaneously ordering a deeper examination of stakeholder concerns, according to a Storyboard18 report.
People familiar with the discussions said the decision reflects the Centre’s determination to push ahead with next-generation broadcast technologies, even as it seeks to manage growing resistance from telecom operators wary of the impact on mobile video revenues.
The move follows a referral by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to the committee of secretaries, rather than placing the proposal directly before the Union Cabinet, as was initially envisaged. The inter-ministerial panel includes representatives from the Department of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Department of Space, and the MIB.
“The clearance keeps the policy engine running without ignoring due process,” said a senior industry executive, requesting anonymity. “It signals commitment without forcing a rushed decision.”
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, working with IIT Kanpur and Saankhya Labs, now part of Tejas Networks, is conducting D2M trials across more than 19 cities. The technology allows live television and multimedia content to be transmitted directly to mobile phones without internet connectivity or a SIM card.
Officials see D2M as a strategic public-interest tool, particularly for regions with weak digital infrastructure. Use cases include education, disaster alerts and emergency messaging. “This is being framed as a complement to telecom networks, not a replacement,” said an executive involved in the consultations.
Telecom operators remain unconvinced. They argue that D2M could undercut mobile video consumption, one of the sector’s fastest-growing revenue streams and have questioned both the commercial logic and technical robustness of the trials.
Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India has criticised the testing process, alleging departures from principles of transparency, consultation and technology neutrality, and has called for fresh trials with broader stakeholder participation.
The government and Prasar Bharati have countered these objections with technical evidence. Studies led by IIT Kanpur found that D2M operations in the 470–582 MHz band do not cause harmful interference with existing 4G and 5G networks, nor do they lead to abnormal handset heating. The findings were independently certified by Aracion Technology, a NABL-accredited firm.
The MIB has been among D2M’s strongest advocates, frequently pointing to India’s access gap. Of roughly 280 million households, about 190 million have television access, leaving nearly 90 million TV-dark. By contrast, the country has around 800 million smartphone users and another 250 million feature-phone users.
The newly constituted committee will examine spectrum frameworks, regulatory safeguards and stakeholder concerns, even as pilot deployments continue. Industry executives say the signal from the Centre is unmistakable. “The question now is execution, not intent,” said a senior broadcast executive.
Commercial rollouts are expected to begin by mid-2026, with wider launches towards the end of the year. The MIB has also appointed Ernst & Young as project management consultant to design a national D2M roadmap, including a viable revenue and business model.
