S. Krishnan (L) Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) met representatives of EGI and Digipub and assured them that the Ministry will issue a detailed ‘FAQ’ document to address the concerns of print media. File. | Photo credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
News media associations have expressed concern that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules 2025 do not address their concerns that the main law – the DPDP Act 2023, which was partially notified – could harm journalistic reporting. The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has noted “with concern the recent notification of DPDP 2025 under the DPDP Act, 2023,” the body said in a statement.
The DPDP rules were announced last week, kicking off an 18-month compliance period and immediately enforcing an amendment to the Right to Information Act 2005 that would allow government organizations any and all “personal information”, going beyond an earlier version of the exemption that allowed personal information to be released if there was an overriding public interest in releasing that information.
Editorial | Too little, too late: on digital privacy rules, 2025
“While the Guild has previously highlighted the law’s shortcomings, which included a dilution of the right to information regime and the absence of any explicit journalistic exemption, the newly issued Rules continue to leave critical questions for journalists and media organizations unresolved.”
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S. Krishnan met representatives of EGI and Digipub, the latter representing pure digital outlets, and assured them that the ministry would issue a detailed ‘FAQ’ document to address the concerns of journalists. Press authorities “urged MeitY to issue legally sustainable clarifications or amending provisions to explicitly protect journalistic activities,” the EGI statement said.
Mr Krishnan and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a press conference on Monday that this FAQ document was “ready” and would be released soon.
In a separate statement, Digipub expressed “deep concern” about the rules and the law, saying that “together they cripple the Right to Information Act, which is one of the most important pieces of legislation for democratic accountability, but also creates a regulatory framework that threatens journalism.”
Digipub urged the government to start a “reform process for DPDPA, 2023 and DPDPR, 2025 to restore a clear statutory exemption for journalistic and public interest processing”.
Published – 19 Nov 2025 20:36 IST
