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MeitY weighs limiting Section 79 safe harbour for algorithm-driven social platforms
Indian Express and Inc42 report exploratory talks on whether feed-ranking platforms should keep intermediary immunity, while Vaishnaw presses safety duties without confirming a rollback.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has begun exploratory discussions on whether social media platforms that algorithmically rank, recommend and amplify posts should keep the same Section 79 safe harbour that shields intermediaries from liability for third-party content, The Indian Express reported, with Inc42 and MediaNama carrying parallel accounts. Officials cited in those reports argue that platforms using recommendation systems look less like passive carriers and more like actors that decide what users see.
Under the ideas described, safe harbour might stay with services that mainly transmit information, such as ISPs, telecom operators and peer-to-peer messaging, while algorithm-shaped feeds face a different liability test. Any withdrawal or major rewrite would likely need amendments to the Information Technology Act, 2000 and approval by Parliament. Reports stress that no final decision has been taken.
On 6 November 2026, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters that platforms must take proactive responsibility for child safety, women's safety, digital arrest scams and related harms, while stopping short of saying whether statutory safe harbour would change, according to PTI coverage in ThePrint and The Telegraph. Civil society groups including SFLC.in warned that stripping Section 79 could push platforms toward over-removal of lawful speech. The debate sits beside separate talks on deepfake takedown paths and grievance redesign.
