BeerBiceps row: IT ministry to brief parliamentary panel on laws regulating digital content

The IT ministry is expected to brief a parliamentary standing committee next week on whether laws will be amended to regulate online speech on social media platforms.

According to The Indian Express, the ministry will respond on the need for changes to “bring such platforms under legal scrutiny so as to safeguard the societal values and protect the dignity of women and children”.

The parliamentary standing committee on information technology, which is headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, had written to IT ministry secretary S Krishnan after the Ranveer Allahbadia row asking for a note on the efficacy of laws, such as the IT Act of 2000, in regulating social media content. 

The committee also cited recent observations made by the Supreme Court, which had slammed Allahbadia for his “very dirty, depraved” comments.

Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, found himself at the centre of a row when after he made a joke on parents and sex on Samay Raina’s YouTube show India’s Got Latent. He’s now named in three FIRs and moved the Supreme Court for protection against arrest. 

The Indian Express reported that the IT ministry has already prepared an “internal communication” as part of its response to the standing committee. However, this communication referenced Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which had been struck down in 2015.

Read this piece on how the YouTuber had come under fire on several primetime shows even after he had issued an apology for his comments.

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