Child safeguards likely in Digital India Bill

May 31, 2023 09:03

The draft Digital India Bill, which seeks to replace the Information Technology Act, 2000, to address the challenges posed by the Internet and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, will have special provisions for safeguarding children, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT.

The draft of the Bill will be released by the first week of June for public consultation.

"In the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, special restrictions were imposed on the platforms processing children's data. Based on the same principle, there will be specific measures in the DIA [Digital India Act] to protect children and give them a safer and more trusted Internet than an adult," Chandrasekhar tells Business Standard.

The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) on May 23, 2023 conducted a second round of consultations with big techs, start-ups, industry bodies, policy advocates, and law experts on the broad principles of the Digital India Bill. The proposed legislation aims to review the definition and classification of Internet intermediaries and the need for safe harbour for them.

However, the government has ruled out the previously anticipated provision of creating a new regulator for the Internet. "Just like the IT Act does not have any additional regulator, there is no need for a digital regulator in the new Act. There are sectoral regulators and various institutions created in other laws," the minister said.

-- Sourabh Lele/Business Standard

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