The report, however, did not recommend any major dilution of the contentious exemption clause, which gives powers to the government to keep any of its agencies outside the purview of the law.
A parliamentary committee on Thursday recommended setting up a statutory media regulatory authority for the regulation of the contents on social media platforms irrespective of the platform where their content is published, whether online or print.
Noting that non-personal data has also to be dealt within the legislation if privacy is the concern, the Joint Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, has suggested creating a single administration and regulatory body to avert contradiction, confusion and mismanagement.
The joint parliamentary committee on personal data protection bill has recommended that all social media platforms, which do not act as intermediaries, should be treated as publishers and be held accountable for the content they host.
A parliamentary committee recommended widening the scope of proposed data protection legislation to include both personal and non-personal data and sought greater accountability for social media platforms by treating them as publishers.