In what has come as an unexpected development, the Centre on Wednesday issued an order saying that all online media content will now be regulated by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Films, OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, audiovisual programmes by content providers on YouTube, digital news and current affairs content will be coming under the purview of the Ministry.

Audio-visual programmes per se have been brought under regulation.

Reacting to the development, the Internet Freedom Foundation has said that it will continue our work to safeguard user interests and prevent any overbroad censorship.

This has come to be seen by critics as a potential threat to freedom of expression. "It's is still early days on how the government will seek to regulate online content now. The hope is that they will act neutral and act to prescribed rules, ethics and codes that are unbiased and do not favour any political ideologies or leanings," Kazim Rizvi tweeted.