Digital India Bill out for discussion soon, says official

The draft of the Digital India (DIA) Bill is ready, and will be released for consultation soon, a top official told ET. The Bill, which will replace the 23-year-old IT Act, is likely to be tabled in the Parliament during the later part of the winter session, the official said.

“The draft of the Digital India Bill is almost ready; it will be released soon,” said the official. Once the industry and stakeholder consultations are completed, the final draft of the Bill will be tabled in the Parliament.

The ministry of electronics and IT is currently working on finalising the draft rules of Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which was notified on August 11.

The much-awaited DIA draft is also expected to have provisions to govern emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, ET reported in June.

The government has been holding pre-draft consultations on the DI Bill across cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru since March.

The Digital India Bill will be the third major digital law overhaul by the government after the DPDP Bill and the Telecom Bill.

The DI Bill is highly sought after by the industry, especially social media firms, since it may do away with the immunity provided to platforms under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.

Section 79 of the IT Act 2000, states that "an intermediary shall not be liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him". This protects social media intermediaries like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and others from any legal liability for content on their platforms. This has also led to a spurt in fake news and misinformation on the platforms, feels the government.

"Most platforms are anonymous so the perpetrator is untraceable, but the government draws flak for free speech-related issues," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT had told ET in May.

"I want to propose to you that we're actively thinking through in the DIA (Digital India Act) that we do away with the Section 79 safe harbour completely. I'd say that it is the responsibility of the platforms that host the content to do whatever they can (to act on) misinformation, on toxic content, illegal content…This is certainly something that we are thinking of. The safe harbour, the immunity blanket, should be conditional," he said.

He had also said that the government will regulate AI, and that an entire chapter in the DIA will be dedicated to AI and emerging technologies. "But it will be done through the prism of user harm, and there will be no separate legislation to regulate AI," he said.

The DIA will classify newer types of intermediaries based on risk, and size, he said. The minister also said that the DIA will account for sector-specific regulation apart from the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP) accounting for it.