Coming law could tag you a digital news broadcaster

livemint.com:

HT has seen a copy of the bill which the government has shared with stakeholders. It attempts to address the ambiguity created by the first draft (released for public consultation in November 2023) on this aspect by defining “professional"—a person engaged in an occupation or vocation—and “systematic activity" as “any structured or organized activity that involves an element of planning, method, continuity or persistence".

The new version also defines “news and current affairs programmes" to include “texts" apart from the existing “audio, visual or audio-visual content, sign, signals, writing, images" which are “transmitted directly or using a broadcasting network". Also read | Centre readying bill to regulate digital news media for first time These proposed provisions are part of a broader approach that includes a new digital news broadcasters category, new obligations for intermediaries and social media intermediaries related to streaming services and digital news broadcasters, and, in a major change from the last version circulated in 2023, provisions targeting online advertising.

General obligations for broadcasters and network operators now also include compliance with the government’s foreign direct investment policy and standard operating procedures during disasters and natural calamities, at par with how such regulations have existed for conventional broadcasters. Under the bill, an “intermediary" is defined in the context of any programme to refer to “any person who on behalf of another person, subscriber or user hosts, receives, stores, displays or transmits that programme or provides any service with respect to that programme and includes social media intermediaries, advertisement intermediaries, internet