---
layout: default
title: "Stakeholders Air Reservation Over Government's Plan to Remove Safe Harbour Provisions in Digital India Act"
description: "A Moneycontrol report on civil society, industry and think tank concerns over the proposed removal of safe harbour protections for internet intermediaries in India's Digital India Act, featuring comments from Sunil Abraham and calls for surveillance reform."
categories: [Media mentions]
date: 2023-03-31
source: "Moneycontrol"
authors: ["Aihik Sur"]
permalink: /media/stakeholders-safe-harbour-digital-india-act-moneycontrol/
created: 2025-12-21
---

**Stakeholders Air Reservation Over Government's Plan to Remove Safe Harbour Provisions in Digital India Act** is a news report published by *Moneycontrol* on 31 March 2023, written by Aihik Sur. The article covers a Broadband India Forum discussion where civil society, industry and think tank representatives raised concerns about the government's proposal to eliminate safe harbour protections for internet intermediaries in the forthcoming Digital India Act.

## Contents

1. [Article Details](#article-details)  
2. [Full Text](#full-text)  
3. [Context and Background](#context-and-background)  
4. [External Link](#external-link)

## Article Details

<dl class="media-details">
  <dt>📰 Published in:</dt>
  <dd>Moneycontrol</dd>

  <dt>✍️ Author:</dt>
  <dd>Aihik Sur</dd>

  <dt>📅 Date:</dt>
  <dd>31 March 2023</dd>

  <dt>📄 Type:</dt>
  <dd>News report</dd>

  <dt>📰 Newspaper Link:</dt>
  <dd>
    <a class="btn" href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/stakeholders-air-reservation-over-governments-plan-to-remove-safe-harbour-provisions-in-digital-india-act-10337921.html">Read Online</a>
  </dd>
</dl>

## Full Text

<div class="highlighted-text" id="fulltext">

<p><em>Stakeholders in a discussion organised by Broadband India Forum hoped that the Digital India Act will bring reforms to India's surveillance mechanism</em></p>

<hr class="article-separator">

<p>At a time when the government is considering to remove safe harbour provisions in the upcoming Digital India Act (DIA), stakeholders from civil society, industry and think tanks in a discussion, submitted their reservations over the idea, stating that the provision was "core to the possibilities of the internet".</p>

<p>Stakeholders in a talk organised by the Broadband India Forum said that although the provision can be conditional, it should not be downright removed.</p>

<p>The safe harbour provision gives internet platforms legal immunity against content shared by users on the platforms and was allowed by the IT Act, which the forthcoming Digital India Act seeks to replace.</p>

<p>Earlier in March, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology held a pre-consultation on the upcoming Digital India Act's key features, one of which is the removal of safe harbour provision for internet intermediaries.</p>

<p>Sunil Abraham, Meta's public policy director for data and emerging tech said, "It is core to the possibilities of the internet that you have safe harbour. But more and more I think all stakeholders are in agreement that safe harbour. And what those due diligence obligations should be is being debated across the world."</p>

<p>As a whole, Abraham said that the DIA should not be filled with 'executive discretion'. "It should be filled with self regulation and co-regulation." Abraham also batted for the regulation to be protective of user rights, promoting innovation and preservation of the capacity for governance based on "constitutional tests".</p>

<p>Amrita Choudhury, director at CCAOI, hoped that the DIA would bring a kind of an oversight or accountability mechanism over the State.</p>

<p>"(The DIA should) perhaps have a light touch regulation for emerging technology; some kind of transparent, oversight or accountability mechanism over the State," Choudhury said. She also called for harmonisation between different regulations that will be brought in by the Indian government.</p>

<p>"My biggest wish list for this regulation to come in is involving all stakeholders properly in that consultation so that we can come up with something which serves us for some more time because this landscape is, you know, changing ever evolving," she added.</p>

<p>Stakeholders also discussed about the possible reforms in provisions regarding surveillance in the upcoming Digital India Act.</p>

<p>Saikat Datta, CEO of Deep Strat said, "In India, that surveillance is a much bigger problem, because the agencies which are empowered to carry out surveillance, they have not been enacted as an act of Parliament. What is their charter? What is their transparency?"</p>

<p>Datta called for narrowly defining the grounds under which surveillance can be taken up, and also at the same time codifying the "legitimate needs" of a government to take up surveillance.</p>

<p>"We also have to recognise, that the State has certain legitimate needs for national integrity, security etc. I would want that the DIA recognised and also encodes that within the Act. This will create certain kind of gold standards on what can be done and what cannot be done," he said.</p>

</div>

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## Context and Background

The report appeared during public consultations on the Digital India Act, which the government positioned as a replacement for the Information Technology Act 2000. One proposal under discussion was the removal or significant restriction of safe harbour protections that shield internet intermediaries from liability for user-generated content, provided they meet certain due diligence requirements.

Safe harbour provisions had enabled the growth of social media platforms, e-commerce marketplaces and user forums by limiting their legal exposure for third-party content. The proposal to weaken or eliminate these protections raised concerns that platforms would face pressure to over-moderate content or implement aggressive filtering, potentially restricting free expression and innovation.

Sunil Abraham, then Meta's public policy director for data and emerging tech, argued that safe harbour protections remain fundamental to how the internet functions, though he acknowledged growing consensus that these protections should be tied to meaningful due diligence obligations. His emphasis on self-regulation, co-regulation and constitutional safeguards reflected broader concerns that excessive executive discretion in the proposed law could enable arbitrary enforcement.

Participants also raised parallel concerns about surveillance powers, noting that agencies conducting surveillance in India lack clear statutory mandates or parliamentary oversight. The discussion reflected a wider demand for the Digital India Act to balance legitimate state interests in security with accountability mechanisms, transparent processes and protections for user rights in an evolving digital landscape.

## External Link

- <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/stakeholders-air-reservation-over-governments-plan-to-remove-safe-harbour-provisions-in-digital-india-act-10337921.html">Read on Moneycontrol</a>

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