As per the Act, failure to take reasonable security safeguards to prevent a personal data breach has penalties up to ₹250 crore
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Demanding that their professional work be kept outside the purview of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, journalists are organising an Open House on Friday (August 8) to solicit inputs for the framing of FAQs that the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has asked for.
The development follows a joint meeting on July 28, 2025, among the representatives of different media organisations including members of the Press Club of India (PCI), the Indian Women’s Press Corps, Digipub and the Editors’ Guild of India.
In the meeting with the Ministry officials, concerns of the media fraternity, pertaining to the impact of several restrictive and sweeping provisions of the DPDP Act, 2023, has on freedom of the press and freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution were discussed in detail, the PCI said.
Trifles press freedom
A joint memorandum signed by 22 press bodies and over 1,000 journalists was also submitted to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and IT, and Information and Broadcasting, in June.
“The concerns expressed in the memorandum were put together by the PCI after a close study of various definitions and provisions of the Act with legal and personal data experts. It was found that the Act comes directly against the journalists’ fundamental right to work granted by Article 19 (1) (a) and (g) of the Constitution,” the PCI said.
According to journalists’ associations, some of the sections, sub-sections, and clauses should be suitably amended/removed to eliminate all ambiguities from the DPDP Act 2023, which dangerously trample upon press freedom and freedom of expression under Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution.
“We demand that exemptions for journalists and media organisations be explicitly spelled out in the rules before they are notified,” they added.
Penalty scare
According to the DPDP Act, while not specifically targeting the media, it can significantly impact media organisations through its general penalty provisions, as it regulates the processing of digital personal data.
For instance, as per the Act, failure to take reasonable security safeguards to prevent a personal data breach has penalties up to ₹250 crore, and failure to notify the Data Protection Board and affected data principals of a personal data breach has penalties up to ₹200 crore.
Breach of any other provision of the Act or its rules also attracts penalties of up to ₹50 crore.
Published on August 6, 2025
