Centre recalls controversial Broadcast Bill

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has withdrawn the draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, and asked the stakeholders who were sent its physical copies to return them since their inputs were no longer required.

- Gaurav Vivek

The draft was initially circulated in November 2023 for obtaining the feedback of stakeholders and the Bill was recently redrafted after which the opinion of the stakeholders was sought once again.

The Bill was to replace the Television Network Act of 1995. It was intended to classify influencers and social media pages that produce content or discuss current affairs or news online as "digital news broadcasters".

The revised Bill, which was circulated in July this year, extended the scope of the draft law released in November 2023 original document to also cover social media accounts and online video creators besides over-the-top (OTT) content and digital news. The new draft defined 'digital news broadcaster' and noted that such entities would require prior registration with the government and establish content evaluation standards.

Critics had said it would create "emergency-like" situation and slammed it for proposing precertification of programmes and formation of Content Evaluation Committees