Guidelines, Not Laws

Who decides what stays online-and under what safeguards? As India reshapes its framework for intermediary regulation, the Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules, 2026 raise questions that go far beyond platform compliance. They concern the boundaries of executive power, freedom of expression, informational privacy, procedural fairness, and the constitutional limits of delegated legislation. Intermediary Regulation and Constitutional Limits offers a detailed legal and constitutional examination of four proposed changes: expanded data-retention obligations, mandatory compliance with MeitY advisories and executive directions, the extension of Part III mechanisms to non-publisher users, and the expanded jurisdiction of the Inter-Departmental Committee. Drawing on landmark decisions including Shreya Singhal, Justice K.S. Puttaswamy, Anuradha Bhasin, Maneka Gandhi, A.K. Kraipak, Hamdard Dawakhana, E.P. Royappa, Manak Lal, and the Madras Bar Association cases, the book examines the proposed rules through the doctrines of proportionality, vagueness, excessive delegation, natural justice, privacy, and institutional impartiality. Rather than treating constitutional invalidity as a foregone conclusion, the analysis identifies where the Draft Rules create substantial and non-frivolous constitutional risks and proposes concrete safeguards and alternative drafting solutions. Its recommendations call for clearer statutory limits, publication and consultation requirements, independent review, defined thresholds, meaningful hearing rights, and stronger safeguards for personal data and online expression. At its heart, this is a study of a fundamental question in modern digital governance.