Satirical content creators commenting on India’s socio-political situation said they were not surprised with the recent draft amendment to the Information Technology Rules issued on Monday, widening the oversight of online content and expanding the scope of entities liable for regulatory action.
“This development was a long time coming. I never imagined political satire to have a long time stint under the Modi rule. I don’t have a plan for the road ahead yet,” said Rakesh Verma, Co-Founder of Peeing Human, a platform known for its political commentary and satire on the internet.
Though not a journalist, Verma ended up making satirical content on politics in 2015, and Peeing Human has been Verma’s primary source of income, garnering 12.8 lakh subscribers on YouTube, 13 lakh followers on Facebook and 5 lakh followers on Instagram. Under the draft amendment, Verma’s platform that makes humorous political content will face the same obligations as news organisations and be subject to advisories, directive orders and clarifications issued by the government.
“It is not surprising that they want to take over social media. The current regime is not a fan of criticism,” said Verma.
Echoing this sentiment, Smish Designs, a digital artist whose art became popular during the farmer’s movement in 2020, said the draft rule solidifies her fears of being targeted for something as simple as complaining about city infrastructure.
“My artwork is anti-establishment. This sort of a rule pressurises content creators to self-check. It discourages me to post my work. It is my basic right to comment about things like a bad road,” she said, anticipating drastic change in online discourse if the draft is allowed.
While creators worry about limited space for expression and monetisation, organisations like the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and SFLC.in have flagged concerns about the amendment.
“These proposed amendments need to be immediately withdrawn and every member in our citizenry should demand their roll back and stand with the Constitution of India,” said IFF in a statement adding that the proposed amendments come at a time of fear and increased government directed censorship.
It argued that the changes via the amendment allow an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) to examine “matters” relating to user-generated news content on without the Code of Ethics framework. This essentially gives government content oversight machinery that Indian High Courts had found illegal during cases on free speech.
Meanwhile, the SFLC.in said the broadening of the scope of the Rules to include to intermediaries and users adds to existing blocking powers.
“Bringing users under the ambit of the IDC and the provisions of blocking that the MIB wields in addition to the pre-existing methods of blocking is a way to further clamp down on free speech and expression,” said SFLC.in in its statement. It added that the added pressure on platforms of losing safe harbour due to non-compliance can lead to over-censorship and a chilling effect on free speech for all users.
Accordingly, organisations asked stakeholders and concerned users to send in their inputs to the government before the April 14 deadline.
“A more balanced approach would require transparent, democratically accountable rule-making processes, with clear safeguards to prevent overreach and protect fundamental rights,” said SFLC.in
Published on April 2, 2026
