India Poised to Implement Orwellian Censorship

New policy would force influential digital creators and social media users to register with government and meet with content committees

Disturbing reports have emerged in recent weeks about a secret new bill that will heavily control and monitor digital creators in India. A leaked version entitled, Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2024, would classify YouTubers, Instagrammers, X accounts, and other social media users with large followings as “digital news broadcasters.” The bill would then require these users to register with the Indian government and meet with an evaluation committee to preview their content before publication.

The measure would violate basic principles of free speech, association, press and privacy.

Its drafting has been highly confidential and details are sparse. Digital associations, civil society and the online creator community have been kept in the dark, and what we do know comes from sources, who have reviewed leaked, watermarked versions of the bill.

Its impact would be extraordinary, as digital creators are sometimes the loudest and only voices willing to critique the the Modi led BJP coalition government. Prominent voices are taking notice and putting out a call to action:

Another popular voice has asked whether the Indian government could use this bill to force Mr. Beast to register with the Indian government or censor his account in India! The potential reach is hard to fathom.

Of course, the bill would build upon what is already one of the most sophisticated propaganda machines in the world, which operates through both censorship and disinformation.

The censorship is far and wide ranging and includes internet blackouts; harassment and arrest of journalists, artists and human rights defenders; and outright blocking of social media feeds, YouTube accounts, news reporting, and investigative journalism that is critical of Modi or the BJP. The censorship has become part of everyday culture as well: government bodies have rewritten history books by removing sections on Muslims, dropped Muslim names from historical sites, and even authorized the destruction of mosques only to later approve the construction of Hindu temples at the same sites.

This censorship is complemented by a vast disinformation network featuring news outlets closely affiliated with the BJP which do their bidding; pundits and influencers who routinely peddle falsehoods for government access and other quid pro quo; and the largest known troll army in the world well in excess of 150,000 people. The BJP is so organized in its production and dissemination of misinformation that in prior elections it has created several WhatsApp groups for every polling booth in the country, all 900,000 of them, through which they disseminated lies about immigrants, Muslims, Sikh farmers, Pakistan, and other issues.

And yet, despite this regulated control of knowledge and information, the Modi led BJP suffered a major setback in the last election. Perhaps it was this defeat that pushed them to intensify their propaganda machine through this bill.

Anyone committed to free speech, an open press, the ability to organize and associate, the right to privacy, or human rights generally, should be tracking and fighting this bill. It would portend a kind of digital authoritarianism the likes of which the world has never seen.