This has to be the most peculiar public consultation we have participated till now. Usually public consultation exercises are done with an approach paper or first trying to understand what specific harms, benefits, or policy objectives we are trying to fulfil. Only after that is done some legal provisions are identified for change or introduction. This is not the case with the consultation on the proposed changes to the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines Rules, 2011 (the IT Rules). On December 24, 2018 the Indian Express put out a report that revealed some proposed changes were put in a private meeting to a select number of social media platforms and industry bodies.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/we-urge-meity-to-press-reboot-on-the-intermediary-rules-saveourprivacy-righttomeme/