FICCI, CII and PCI members part of MIB’s blocking committee, LS told

This is the first time that the inclusion of non-government members in this committee has been made public by the government.

The content blocking and grievance redressal committee in the ministry of information and broadcasting includes domain experts from Press Council of India (PCI), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), minister of state for electronics and IT Jitin Prasada informed the Lok Sabha in a written response on Wednesday.

FICCI, CII and PCI members part of MIB’s blocking committee, LS told

This is the first time that the inclusion of non-government members in this committee has been made public by the government.

Under rule 14 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the MIB constituted an inter-departmental committee with representatives from the ministries of information and broadcasting, women and child development, law and justice, home affairs, electronics and IT, external affairs, and defence. The rule permits MIB to include domain experts.

This IDC is responsible for addressing grievances escalated by the self-regulatory bodies of streaming platforms and digital news publishers, and for recommending and blocking orders.

Prasada was answering a question by DMK MP A. Raja about the number of websites of magazines, social media and journals blocked under the IT Act over the last five years, and if the due process was followed before passing such blocking orders. Prasada did not specify the number of websites blocked.