New IT Rules breach law and gag free speech: 13 key news media firms move Madras HC https://indianexpress.com/article/india/new-it-rules-breach-law-and-gag-free-speech-13-key-news-media-firms-move-madras-hc-7372956/ June 24, 2021

submission that there is “sufficient basis for the petitioners…apprehension that coercive and arm-twisting action may be taken” undersuchprovisions and sought an order seeking restraint of operation of Rules 12, 14 and 16 Rule 16 of the Rules give the Secretary, I&B, emergency powers to block, as an interim measure, public access to any information or a part of it without giving the intermediary hosting the said information any opportunity of hearing. Provision 12 offers options for one or more self-regulatory body of publishers, while 14 says that I&B Ministry shall constitute an inter-departmental committee with representatives from other Ministries.

‘IT rules impose chilling effect on free speech’: TM Krishna moves Madras HC https://indianexpress.com/article/india/right-to-privacy-tm-krishna-it-rules-madras-high-court-centre-7352917/ June 10, 2021
The Madras High Court has given the government three weeks to file a response to the affidavit and the matter will be heard after four weeks.

the petition says the guidelines regarding content around belief, race or religion, will “thwart artists from raising difficult questions against existing aesthetic, gender and caste hierarchies in Karnatic music,” and thwart dissent against existing norms.

“A reading of the Code of Ethics contained in the Impugned Rules makes it impossible to glean what will be considered by the Union government as acceptable speech in the online world. In any event, it is submitted that determining what is acceptable isn’t the sole prerogative of the government,” the petition states.